Jason,
I want to be honest with you about something.
What happened at the Supreme Court earlier this week wasn’t a surprise. It was the conclusion of a decade-long, deliberate dismantling of the civil rights protections Black Americans have fought and bled for.
The Voting Rights Act transformed our democracy. It expanded Black representation, and gave a voice to voters who had long been shut out of power. And for 60 years, Section 2 has been one of the last lines of defense against the politicians who never stopped trying to rig the maps and take away that representation.
Six justices decided that line of defense no longer mattered. We have to call it what it is: A Republican power grab rooted in racism.
States can freely draw electoral maps specifically designed to split up communities, erase majority Black districts, and silence voters.
The impact of this won’t just be felt in Congress. It’s going to impact state legislatures, city councils, and school boards across the South. Every level of government where Black communities have fought to see themselves represented is now vulnerable.
This moment requires us to be honest about what we’re up against. It’s not just Trump, or the Republican Party, or establishment Democrats that don’t care about working people. It’s a legal and political infrastructure with real teeth that has been quietly dismantling our democracy for years.
And our candidates are fighting back regardless. Because that’s what real leaders do. They don’t back down when the fight gets tough. They go even harder for their communities because they know how much their leadership means in moments like these.
That’s why Leaders We Deserve is incredibly proud to back Black progressive candidates like Christian Menefee, Justin J. Pearson, Lauren Babb Tomlinson, and Donavan McKinney. These are leaders who didn’t wait for permission to show up for their communities. They know what’s at stake because they’ve lived it, and they’ve spent their careers proving that people-powered change is possible — even when the system is stacked against them.
But these leaders need your support right now. They don’t rely on corporate checks or special interest money. Their campaigns are funded by people like you, who know the way to fight back against this rigged system is to build something stronger.
Thank you,
David Hogg
