Democracy actually means something

Demos=people. Kratos=power.

So this month’s focus is on democracy. May was Project 2025, June was Christian nationalism, and now we’re talking democracy. YAY!

Well, ok. We’re actually talking about the threats to democracy. Sigh. But if we know what those are, we can actually do something about it, right?

And if you stay to the end of the newsletter, you’ll get to hear what I’m cranky about. :) So here we go!

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What’s up with democracy today? What can we do?

You may know that in 2013, the Supreme Court repealed the Voting Rights Act, meaning that states with a history of racist voting laws no longer have to seek permission before changing their laws; the court has also made it harder for people to challenge discriminatory voting policies. As a result, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, voting discrimination has been worsening in the last decade (and honestly the last two, but this pushed it into hyper drive).

The good news is that the Senate recently re-introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; you should check out what the League of Women Voters has to say about it, but in short, it preserves voting rights for all US citizens 18 and over in ways that re-establish the spirit of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Congressman Lewis and so many others fought to establish. I wanted you to know that as bleak as the landscape of democracy is right now, there are people fighting to protect and preserve it, and they’d love your support.

Who fought for democracy in our recent past?

You may know about the American Nazi movement in the 1930s—there’s a famous picture of a gathering of 20,000 Nazis at Madison Square Garden in 1939.

I recently talked with a very pro-democracy group who were ambivalent when I mentioned the need to stand up against fascism. It led me down this rabbit trail I thought you might find interesting, of the statements of various Veterans organizations in the United States in the 1930s who were strongly and publicly committed to standing up against fascism. Here you go:

American Legion Resolution (1937): "The American Legion deplores and condemns any tendency to import into this country the racial or national hatreds which have disturbed the peace of the world. We must guard against the infusion into our national life of elements alien to our cherished ideals of democracy, fair play, and equal opportunity for all citizens."

Veterans of Foreign Wars Statement (1939): "As veterans of a past war and potential participants in a future one, we regard the principles of the 'VFW' as imperishable truths, the upholding of which is a constant duty. [...] We are not prepared to let the land we fought to save become a prey to forces from within or without, nor suffer it to become a launching pad for subversive or destructive elements."

I wanted to make sure you knew that when fascism was on the rise in the US less than 100 years ago, US veterans made it clear they weren’t putting up with that garbage here. I’ve found that a lot of veterans I know today want less war, less oppression, less conquest, and less fascism, so this makes sense to me!

For more on the rise (and fall?) of the American Nazis, check out this piece from Code Switch. (They apparently called George Washington America’s first fascist. So messaging strategies haven’t changed.)

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Spotlight on a pro-democracy ancestor

Maybe one of the most powerful speeches in all of US history for democracy was given by Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964. By means of background, when the Mississippi Democratic Party would not allow Black participation, she co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and she gave a speech at that national convention (the one where LBJ was confirmed as the party’s candidate for President), seeking for the MFDP to be recognized. She told a national audience in plain and clear and direct language the horrific violence and terror she endured because she registered to vote and sought to help others do so. The MFDP was not seated, but her speech had ripple effects across the country that contributed to the protection of voter rights in the year to come.

All of this is on account we want to register, to become first-class citizens, and if the freedom Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America, is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?

So today, we remember a forebear, a movement ancestor, who not only risked life and safety for democracy but also made sure the nation knew the costs people were bearing in that fight. If you want to read that very intense, very raw speech and contemplate how brave and how willing to unveil the horrors of anti-democratic forces she was, here’s a link to it. Please note that she lets the audience know every violence done to her because she wanted equality for Black people.

Image from an episode about Hamer on KPFA radio in 2021. The image is of Hamer speaking at the 1964 Democratic Convention.

So here’s where I’m going to complain for a minute. The theme this month is democracy. There was a photo that went viral after the 2017 women’s march, with an older woman holding a sign that said “I can’t believe I still have to protest this garbage.” Except it didn’t say garbage. I’ve been talking with friends about wanting to write a dissertation that’s useful to the social justice movement, and increasingly I find myself thinking that the most urgent need right now is the fight to protect democracy, and I quote that poster all the time. How is it that in 2024 I have to make a case for Democracy Good, Fascism Bad? There are so many other things I’d like to be focusing on. Like playing the guitar. I’m really not good at it, but even more reason. So help me save democracy so I can get back to learning how to play Blackbird. Thanks!