It's Time

I had plans to write about capitalism, consumerism, and workers for today. Then yesterday, the Supreme Court voted by a vote of 6-3 to seriously undermine the Voting Rights Act. Their decision will make it hard to challenge gerrymandering based on racial discrimination, effectively weakening black people’s right to vote. And all in time for the mid-terms, because the Republicans are desperate to hold onto power, and without their cronies in the Supreme Court decimating our democracy for them, they probably wouldn’t be able to.

The Worker’s Circle email I received yesterday summed it up well:

For more than four decades, Section 2 of the VRA operated on a straightforward principle: When electoral systems produce racially discriminatory results, they violate federal law – even without proof of discriminatory intent. That principle is now gone, and those who wish to exclude the voices that they disagree with in our democracy are emboldened.

Basically, that’s the world we live in – voices of marginalized people, voices of workers, of women, of BIPOC individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, people with disabilities are all being silenced, their votes suppressed or taken away, in order that those in power can stay in power.

The emails started pouring into my inbox. Most, like Kristin Gillibrand’s asked for money. Gillibrand’s read: The only way to save our democracy is to take back the levers of power and restore voting rights protections. Either we flip the Senate this fall or democracy perishes. Will you chip in now to help us flip the Senate and save our democracy from Trump and his Supreme Court majority?

It’s not that I don’t know how critical it is that Democrats get control of Congress next fall. But I’m honestly tired of being asked for money by politicians who don’t actually seem to want to stand up and fight, like we need them to stand up and fight. Do something before you ask for money!

Other emails, like the Workers Circle asked me to sign a petition to Congress to “ban gerrymandering, pass Supreme Court limits, and deliver a plan to restore real power to the people.” And that felt a little closer to doing something, although how much good a petition will do is always questionable. United for Democracy’s email promoted that same petition. They wrote, “The MAGA justices think they can tell us who counts and whose voices matter with zero accountability. But the Constitution doesn’t belong to them or their power-hungry extremist buddies—it belongs to us.”

And this is why tomorrow is so important. We need to let everyone know – from Trump, to SCOTUS, to our own Democratic Senators that the Constitution belongs to us, that we the people have demands, and that no matter how many dirty deals and breaking of oaths to the Constitution they are okay with – we will never stop fighting for our neighbors, our rights, and our democracy.

No Work, No School, No Shopping is about people power. It’s about showing the people who no longer care about truth and the Constitution, who no longer care about human rights or dignity, who no longer represent us, our values, or beliefs– that we still believe in democracy, in the Constitution, in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Tomorrow, we show them we are willing to do everything in our power – take every action we can – to build the just, equitable, inclusive, and non-violent democracy that we have dreamed of.

So, however you can, support May Day tomorrow.