To effectively organize against rising threats to a multiracial democracy and full citizenship voting rights for Black Americans, we must remember an important reality: We have seen parts of this battle before, and this is our history. We’ve been here before. But as was the case for our ancestors and their allies, we are not powerless. 

During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, there wasn’t much debate about who had full citizenship and the right to vote. All delegates agreed that precious rights belonged solely to white males who owned property. The only question at the time was defining who qualified as a property owner. It was not until 1965, after almost 200 years of hard-fought campaigns, that all U.S. citizens had the right to vote. This work was not easy. Generations of Americans paid the price — sometimes with their lives — to make this progress. Ultimately, guaranteeing the right to vote required bringing together a multiracial political movement that believed in the Beloved Community, and it needed everyday Americans to demand Congress act to live up to the words in our founding documents.

Learning from our history

Our history has taught us an important lesson: For over 400 years, the move from the enslavement of Black people to legalized segregation and current efforts to roll back the clock on nearly 70 years of civil rights progress has only been repelled through the persistent, sustained, and tenacious resistance of Black nonviolent protesters joined by White allies. For sure, other Americans of color — Latinos, AAPI, and Native Americans — have also suffered from racial discrimination in America, and we must fight against injustice aimed at any group.  Yet the most vitriolic and violent racial terrorism has targeted Black Americans in a centuries-old battle with White Americans who resisted every advancement made toward the full exercise of citizenship, especially the right to vote. However odious, these efforts operated within our constitutional democracy, existing voting laws, and public policies. So, yes, we have been here before and know how to fight this fight.

We have seen parts of this battle before, and this is our history. We’ve been here before. But as was the case for our ancestors and their allies, we are not powerless.

Dangerously and alarmingly, we have entered a new era where we have never been before in the battle for a multiracial democracy. We have not seen an administration embracing Project 2025’s plan to politicize the federal government, answerable only to the president. We have not seen the Authoritarian Playbook put into practice to deconstruct democracy completely. Nor have we seen the Apartheid Playbook activated to resegregate America in ways that will primarily benefit White males, especially those with wealth and power.

In his first few weeks back in office, the president has unveiled an agenda that echoes the injustices of the past, joined with plans to destroy our fragile democracy, including:

• Pushing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while gutting social safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP and threatening to cut Social Security, if necessary.
  
• Seeking to end birthright citizenship — which would overturn generations of precedent and the plain reading of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. 
  
• Eliminating federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and civil rights enforcement for nearly 70 years through executive orders, ending programs aimed at advancing justice, and attacking private businesses, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and university equity-seeking programs.  
  
• Dismantling the watchdog government agencies that exist to prevent corrupt practices by billionaires and protect consumers.
  
• Ignoring court rulings, including from the Supreme Court, on the illegality of cutting $2 billion in foreign aid and abruptly cutting temporary federal employees, moving the nation toward a constitutional crisis. 

Even for those who have not suffered job loss, diversity, equity, and inclusion program attacks, or loss of life-sustaining health and food support, citizens of all backgrounds are feeling how little their lives matter to this administration as they struggle to handle growing living costs in a less stable America.

What we must do

For this new battle, what must we do?

We must galvanize robust multiracial and multi-faith campaigns, like Faiths United to Save Democracy (FUSD), to assess and plan for potential voter restriction challenges, such as harsher voter ID laws.

We must also message the reality of the new administration’s anti-democratic, pro-authoritarian action plan to our diverse organizing communities, share resistance plans, and join together in a broader resistance force.

In this new battle, let us remember Mrs. Coretta Scott King’s words: “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.”  Let’s get to work!

Toolkit for strategic policy advocacy

Toolkit for strategic policy advocacy

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