Photo courtesy of USGS.gov
Many of us were deeply distressed when the Senate failed to pass the Freedom to Vote: John Lewis Act, a sweeping voting rights bill, on January 19. This legislation would have protected the freedom to vote, ensured fair representation in government, reduced the influence of big money in politics, and thwarted partisan election subversion. It would have also counteracted the wave of voter suppression laws being enacted by state legislatures. According to the Brennan Center, “(b)etween January 1 and December 7, 2021, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting. More than 440 bills with provisions that restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 legislative sessions.”
The failure of the Freedom to Vote Act echoed a similar incident in 1890, when Congress made a last attempt to protect Black voting rights through the Federal Elections Bill. The bill was introduced amid fierce backlash to the Black political power won during Reconstruction, when Black men were finally able to exercise their rights as American citizens for the first time. Black communities created schools and universities, mutual aid societies, and banks dedicated to supporting and educating Black people, and a wave of Black legislators were elected.
But in 1877, the Hayes-Tilden compromise ended Reconstruction and took federal troops out of the South—eroding African-Americans' hard-won gains. In 1890, Congress debated stepping in to protect Black voting rights, but in the end, the bill was filibustered into failure. African-American legislators were turned out, and all Black people were denied their civil and human rights as citizens of US through racial terrorism. It took another 75 years of organizing and litigating for Black people to win federal voting-rights protections with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Jim Crow has morphed into James (and Jane) Crow, Esq. We need our legislators to stop repeating Congress’s failures to protect Back voting rights, as happened in 1890. Those failures have reinforced a system of racial oppression that must be left in the past in order to create a healthy and just environment for all. It’s time to write a new history of voting rights, one in which our legislators meet this moment and ensure everyone can make their voice heard, no matter their skin color.
This fight for voting rights is connected to the struggle for environmental justice. Black people and other people of color are disproportionately exposed to particulate pollution, coal ash, chemical and oil refineries, landfills, and other stationary and mobile sources of pollution, contributing to higher rates of asthma, rare cancers, and premature death. Communities of color have often been hit hardest by climate disasters. It is no wonder that a 2020 Yale University and George Mason University poll found that 69 percent of Latinos and 57 percent of Black respondents said they were "alarmed" about climate change. That compares to just 49 percent of white respondents.
Many of the communities of color most burdened by pollution are the same areas being threatened with voter suppression. If these laws go unchallenged, they will make it much more difficult for these communities to make heard their opposition to pollution, including climate pollution. As Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) exclaimed in January 2022 on NPR, “The reason why I’m so passionate about voting rights is because when we lose a democracy, we lose the fight against climate change.”
We must avoid repeating what happened in 1890; and so avoid sliding further into racial injustice, environmental depredation, and climate disruption. Now the battles against voter suppression must include everyone, not just the civil rights organizations and affected groups. The Department of Justice must increase the number of federal voting observers as per the Voting Rights Act. The Carter Center normally sends election monitors to other countries but for the first time deployed monitors in the United States in its home state of Georgia in 2020. They will have to do so again in coming elections in Georgia and other states. Other international monitoring organizations should be invited to come to the US to monitor our elections to ensure they are free and fair.
The Sierra Club’s Democracy Program, staff, chapters, and volunteers have long understood that a healthy democracy equals a healthy environment. Conversely, voter suppression equals environmental injustice. The Sierra Club worked with hundreds of allied organizations to try to pass federal voting rights legislation. We mobilized thousands of our members to make calls, lobby their legislators, mobilize to events and demonstrate the widespread support and demand for Congress to act and protect the freedom to vote.
Looking forward, we will continue to work to help protect voters at the polls and provide accurate information about how voters can vote. We unfortunately expect that people of color will be disproportionately affected by current and proposed voting restrictions in the upcoming 2022 elections. Young people and disabled people’s voting rights are being abridged in real time as primaries begin. We want as many people as possible to participate in our elections, choosing their own representatives, as opposed to being hindered in voting. We want people voting for representatives of their choice: in Congress, on the bench, in legislatures, and on county and city councils.
This next battle against voter suppression must include everyone, not just African Americans. Our country needs all of us to fight for our democracy and not stop until every American has an equitable access to the ballot. I hope you can join us as we move forward in this fight.