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Our freedom is under attack.
This year alone, 30 state legislatures have introduced bills intended to make
it harder for you to exercise your right to vote. This effort is coordinated
and targeted, and it is a throwback to a time that no one in our nation will
want to revisit.
We will not stand by silently and let this happen. In states across the
country, the NAACP and our allies are leading a wide-ranging coalition of
organizations to make sure that your rights are protected. But we can't do it
without you.
Visit our new website, Stand4Freedom.org, and
sign the pledge today:
http://action.naacp.org/page/m/474a35c1/799e074d/7c7ab043/2f61409e/3864401827/VEsE/
What we're facing is the most aggressive attempt to roll back voting rights
in over a century.
A century ago, the target was the voting rights of Black voters and other voters
of color. The goal was to eliminate their presence at the polls and
accelerate the spread of racial segregation.
Today, the target is the voting rights of Black voters, Latino voters, Asian
American Voters, Native American Voters, as well as students and young
people, working women, and immigrants of ALL colors. These are also among the
voting demographics that are most likely to support workers' rights, equal
opportunity, women's rights, LBGT rights, environmental protection, and
peace.
A century ago, the tactics were varied: grandfather clauses, poll tests, poll
taxes, and racially motivated ex-felon voting bans.
Today, voter suppression also takes many forms, including attacks on early
and Sunday voting to make voting harder for working people; photo ID
requirements for voting and registration that introduce the first financial
barrier to voting since the poll tax; and the same racially-motivated
ex-felon bans.
Attacking voting rights was un-American then.
Attacking voting rights is un-American now.
We are organizing aggressively both online and offline. On December 10th,
the United Nations Human Rights Day, we're helping to organize a series of
rallies and events all over the country. In New York City, we'll be marching
from the office of the Koch brothers, the right-wing funders of many of the
anti-voting rights measures, to a rally at the United Nations Building.
It's our duty, as members of the NAACP and as Americans, to defend the right
to vote. Start now by
signing the Stand For Freedom petition:
http://www.stand4freedom.org/petition
Together, we will speak out, organize, and follow through in order to protect
the voting rights of every American in every state.
Standing for Freedom,
Ben
Benjamin Todd Jealous
President & CEO
NAACP
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