For Embargo Release 
March 7, 2025  
Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when the threats to our multi-racial democracy are unyielding, Race Forward today released the following statement:

“On this day 60 years ago, our ancestors endured brute physical violence,” said Glenn Harris, president, Race Forward. “Civil rights activists were beaten for no reason other than having the audacity to demand the right to vote. While those who opposed voting rights assaulted the bodies of brave freedom fighters, they could never extinguish our ancestors’ yearning for the ballot box. In the same way our ancestors persisted, we must persist today in our fight against those determined to turn back not only the progress of the past decades, but the very notion that everyone deserves the right to thrive in this country’.

Many state legislatures have proposed or enacted restrictive voting laws. The Brennan Center for Justice reported that "in 2024, between January 1 to December 31, 10 states enacted 19 restrictive voting laws, 3 states enacted 3 election interference laws, and at least 21 states enacted 32 expansive voting laws. Between 2021 and 2024 the number of restrictive voting laws has nearly tripled the amount passed between 2017 and 2020." 

“While our struggle may look different from that of our ancestors, make no mistake that we are indeed in the same struggle,” Harris added. “The good news is that the fight of our ancestors shows us how to organize and prepare for this moment.  We have the persistence, stamina, and hope needed to continue our righteous organizing for justice.”

“Our job in this moment is to harness the courage, the tenacity and the drive of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Boynton Robinson, John Lewis, and so many others. We don’t need to be perfect but we do need to be tenacious.”  

“Regardless of how dire the circumstances may appear, we must never give up,” Harris concluded. “We will win if we remain in the struggle. This is not a battle we fight alone, but together in solidarity. Our collective power is what will carry us through these times and toward the just, multiracial democracy we all deserve."

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Race Forward is a leading racial justice organization supporting communities and public institutions in achieving governance for a just multiracial democratic society in which people of color are able to thrive with purpose and power.