The three sets of steps policymakers and election officials must take to ensure that Black and brown Americans—and all Americans—can exercise their fundamental right to vote in 2020 and beyond.
Now is a moment to fix longstanding inequities in our voting systems and build a more inclusive democracy, rather than solely seeking out emergency, short-term policy changes.
“The potential for executive action to jumpstart the transition that we need — to reorient our democracy for democratic engagement and redress historic inequities — is huge.”
COVID-19 has exposed longstanding racial and economic inequalities in American life, which is evident in the fact that communities of color are being hit the hardest by both the medical and the economic impacts of the virus.
The ongoing devaluing of Black life that’s now on full display forces us to confront America’s racist origins and to uproot our systems of racial violence, economic subordination, and hoarding of political power.
Rather than cutting funds for public needs while allowing police budgets to swell, cities, states, and the federal government must shift funding to the real priorities of communities.
This platform proposes a set of actions the executive branch can take to equitably address the climate crisis without new legislation, major new appropriations, or other Congressional authority.
Look to Haitian history for a blueprint of how to change our current reality, dream big, and unapologetically craft a new future that is a truly inclusive democracy.
Besides, focusing narrowly on individual instances of discrimination often leaves in place workplace policies and the power structures that perpetuate systemic discrimination against Black and brown communities in particular.
On the superhighway to freedom, while we might be moving in different lanes and at different speeds, let’s ensure we’re all headed in the right direction to emancipation and justice.
The COVID-19 crisis has cast into stark relief what has always been true: the wealth and prosperity of the U.S. economy rests on the labor, and the lives, of black and brown communities.
Gulf Coast communities face the same environmental and racial injustices they faced during Hurricane Katrina—except now with the overlapping crises of COVID-19, economic collapse, and uprisings for Black Lives. Policy change must undo this injustice.
How can an affirmative constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote, eliminate the symptoms of a democracy that has intentionally excluded Black and brown people?
To help make that vision real, we should consider not just bold legislative change, but also finally remaking our Constitution to make real the aspiration for an inclusive democracy.