From Bend the Arc: a Jewish Partnership for Justice:
New York, NY—As national civil rights advocates gear up for a major legislative push to restore the Voting Rights Act, nearly 50 activists from Carolina Jews for Justice, a local organization affiliated with Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, gathered for a vigil at Congregation Beth HaTephila in Asheville to demand congressional action on voting rights. Last night’s vigil precedes a major civil rights rally on June 26 in the Roanoke, Virginia congressional district of Rep. Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte, the Republican Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has refused to allow discussion on a bill that would restore the Voting Rights Act.
“Thousands of Americans may have been denied the right to vote in the two years since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act,” said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc. “That is unacceptable to the millions of American Jews who hold equality and justice as central values. That’s why we are ready to pick up the mantle from our parents and grandparents who fought for the right to vote fifty years ago. We call on Congress to take up and pass a renewed, strong, unapologetic Voting Right Act immediately.”
The Voting Rights Act was the most effective civil rights law ever passed by Congress. The law required states with a record of racially motivated voter disenfranchisement to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before making any changes to voter laws. In June 2013, the Supreme Court gutted this vital protection in Holder v. Shelby County. Since then, states across the country passed laws that would have likely never won approval from the Department of Justice and that effectively disenfranchised millions of people of color, the poor, and young voters.
Over the past two years, Bend the Arc has galvanized Jewish participation in the national, multi-racial, interfaith and intergenerational coalition to protect voting rights and promote civic engagement. Bend the Arc has organized Jewish voters to deliver petitions to congressional offices and organized calls with activists from across the country, calling for passage of the Voting Rights Amendment Act. Last year, Bend the Arc, in partnership with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, held a National Day of Action on voting rights, culminating in a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to commemorate the deaths of Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner and James Chaney, three young activists who were murdered over 50 years ago for working to register black voters in Mississippi.
Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice is a national organization inspired by Jewish values and the steadfast belief that Jewish Americans, regardless of religious or institutional affiliations, are compelled to create justice and opportunity for Americans.
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