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COLOR OF CHANGE PRESIDENT RASHAD ROBINSON ISSUES STATEMENT FOLLOWING ARREST AT SUPREME COURT RALLY FOR VOTING RIGHTS

For Immediate Release: July 22, 2021

Contact: media@colorofchange.org

 

COLOR OF CHANGE PRESIDENT RASHAD ROBINSON ISSUES STATEMENT FOLLOWING ARREST AT SUPREME COURT RALLY FOR VOTING RIGHTS

Rashad Robinson, President of Color of Change, issued this statement following his arrest on the steps of the Supreme Court after a press event and rally advocating for voting rights:

“We’re in the midst of a national voting rights crisis. Today, I stood with more than 50 Black activists and changemakers to demand that our leaders in Washington take action. And during our protest, as we urged federal leadership to protect the right to vote, I, along with Black members of Congress and other advocates, was taken into police custody. It was worth the risk to use our power to demand voting rights protections for Black people, and all communities, in our country.

“President Biden, Senate Democrats (including Majority Leader Schumer), and members of the U.S. Congress won their elections on promises to restore voting rights access and protect the Black vote. But more than six months into this Administration, we’ve yet to see real, meaningful action on voting rights. This simply is not the path forward for our country. We simply cannot go back to the way things were.”

“The nationwide assault on voting rights does not only undermine the core of our democracy; it’s part of a coordinated, sustained campaign to punish Black voters. Last year, we turned out in unprecedented numbers to make our voices heard and change the direction of this nation. But in the months since we flipped the White House and the Senate with historic voter turnout, Republicans at the local, state, and federal levels have been scheming to roll back voting rights, particularly in Black communities. From racist ballot restrictions targeting Black and low-income  voters to the Senate’s reliance on the filibuster to block critical voting rights legislation, lawmakers are leaning into Jim Crow-era tactics to shut Black people out of voting booths. One hundred and fifty years after the passage of the 15th Amendment, which supposedly guaranteed our right to vote, Black voters are still fighting — and being arrested for — their right to safely and securely cast their ballots.

“President Biden must put the weight of his office behind reforming the Senate filibuster, passing HR1 and HR4, and supporting D.C. statehood to ensure that Black people — and all people — have unencumbered access to the polls. Without racial justice, we will never have true democracy.”

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Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over 7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and governments to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org

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