Dear Senator Roy Blunt and Senator Josh Hawley,
We are American citizens and Missouri voters. We are committed to protecting the voting rights of all Americans. We are requesting a meeting with you because we are deeply concerned about the JOHN R. LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ADVANCEMENT ACT and the FOR THE PEOPLE ACT. You opposed these two bills and prevented them from coming up for debate in the United States Senate.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It will prohibit discrimination in voting and create a transparent democratic process in which everyone across our country can participate.
The For the People Act will expand voting rights access and implement anti-corruption measures. It will strengthen and protect the votes of all American citizens.
We urge you to reconsider your opposition to these bills and actively support them. Here are the reasons why:
Missouri has a long history in the struggle to secure voting rights for all Americans. 200 years ago, the 1821 Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Missouri was a slave breeding state where human beings were bred for sale at the slave auctions in Louisiana and Virginia.
The Dred Scott case originated in Missouri and made its way to the United States Supreme Court. In 1857, Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney nullified the Missouri Compromise, allowed the expansion of slavery throughout the nation, and banned the U.S. Congress from outlawing slavery.
Missouri U. S. Senators Trusten Polk, Waldo P. Johnson, and James Green supported the Confederacy. They refused to accept the results of the 1860 Presidential election that Abraham Lincoln won. Their efforts to maintain slavery led to secession, insurrection, and the American Civil War. 620,000 died in that war. Millions more were injured and dislocated. In 1862, United States Senators Polk and Johnson ended their political careers in disgrace when they were both expelled from the United States Senate.
Since the November 2020 Presidential election, former President Donald Trump has engaged in an openly racist campaign to nullify the votes of African Americans in selected counties in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Like the confederates and insurrectionists of 1860 who refused to accept presidential election results, Mr. Trump has refused to accept the results of the 2020 elections. Repeatedly, he has lied about the results of the 2020 elections and incited violent attacks on the very foundations of our democracy.
Sadly, with your support, Mr. Trump has successfully orchestrated the most massive assault on the voting rights of American citizens unseen since pre-Civil War and post-Reconstruction Jim Crow eras. As a result of his actions, there is a massive evisceration of the citizenship and voting rights that were fought for and won with the blood, sweat, tears, and lives of millions of American citizens. We are horrified that this voter suppression and voter nullification efforts are led by the Republican Party in several states, with your support.
Please be reminded that it was U. S. Senator John Brooks Henderson, a Republican from Missouri, who co-authored the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish slavery.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
As we enter the third century of Missouri’s history, we urge you to support the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act as our representatives in the United States Senate.
Failure to support these bills is an attack on Democracy.
In the glorious tradition and spirit of the former U.S. Senator John Brooks Henderson from Missouri, we urge you to reconsider your vote, stop blocking debate and support these two voting rights bills.
Finally, we hereby request a meeting with you and civic, religious and community leaders/voters of our state, at your earliest convenience, to further discuss these matters.
Voting Rights are Human Rights.
The National Campaign for Human Dignity
Zenobia Thompson, chairperson
Walle A. Amusa, Co-Chair
