51 for 51 Responds to President Obama’s Support for Eliminating the Filibuster and Granting D.C. Residents Congressional Representation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, July 30, 2020
PRESS CONTACT:
press@51for51.org
51 for 51 Responds to President Obama’s Support for Eliminating the Filibuster and Granting D.C. Residents Congressional Representation
WASHINGTON — Today, as the nation mourned the loss of Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, President Obama delivered an impassioned speech in his honor calling for equal representation for all Americans and elimination of the filibuster. It was a call to action to “summon John’s moral courage” to reform a democratic process that is being systematically attacked to exclude Black and Brown voices this November.
In response to President Obama’s speech, 51 for 51 Campaign Director Stasha Rhodes came out with the following statement:
“We thank President Obama for honoring the life and legacy of John Lewis by calling on all of us to continue the march towards a freer, fairer America. As he said, the filibuster is a ‘Jim Crow relic,’ a roadblock to progress on civil rights and living up to our founding promise. The only way to move voting rights legislation through the Senate is to eliminate this archaic barrier to equality. Our fight for statehood is a fight for a more representative democracy. There is only one path to representation for the 700,000 mostly Black and Brown residents of DC — that’s bypassing the filibuster to pass one of the most consequential civil rights bills of our time. Let’s continue Congressman Lewis’s work and make some good trouble.”
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51 for 51 is a coalition comprised of D.C.–based and national groups committed to equal representation rights for D.C.’s over 700,000 residents. The coalition of 20 progressive groups says American citizens living in the District deserve a voice in Congress and control over their own local laws.
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