We can do more than vote

Voting rights are important, and they're under threat. In the United States:

"As of 2022, more than 4.6 million people convicted of a felony were barred from voting, the Sentencing Project reports. This number is largely a result of century-old state laws that sought to systematically restrict the rights of Black voters. As the Brennan Center explains, 'it wasn’t until the end of the Civil War and the expansion of suffrage to black men that felony disenfranchisement became a significant barrier to U.S. ballot boxes.' Following the 13th Amendment’s ban on slavery, lawmakers began passing laws that criminalized recently freed Black people and stripped the voting rights of convicted felons. Alabama’s constitution, for example, states that 'No person convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude…shall be qualified to vote until restoration of civil and political rights…' The document, which was created in 1901 and has not been rewritten, arose out of a constitutional convention that was held with the express intention of establishing 'white supremacy in this state.'"
— Rebecca Crosby and Tesnim Zekeria, "The Virginia voter purge," Popular Information (Substack), November 1, 2023

We must defend voting rights.

But also...

We can do more than vote, and we can do it today

"I personally believe that voting is one imperfect means of showing care for one another, but I’m so grateful that it’s not the only one we’ve got. There is so much to be done, always. And that’s overwhelming, but it’s also incredible.. If you want to keep your neighbors safe. If you want to make our country more loving and less fearful. if there is anybody in your life for whom the state of the world fills you with angst, you don’t have to wait."
— Garrett Bucks, In the room where (nothing much) happens: Dispatches the edge of the Republican National Convention, Day One, The White Pages, July 16, 2024

"I wish Democrats didn’t give up valuable ground so easily, but the party and the president are weak opposition, and are unable or unwilling to confront the right in a meaningful way 9 times out of 10. So in this difficult moment we also have an opportunity. We have the opportunity to condemn the political violence of the right, the violence of a fascist movement, and the immense violence of policies that kill millions of people at home and abroad. We have the opportunity to explain how fascism is colonialism come home to roost. We have the opportunity to discuss how the inherent violence of capitalism breeds alienation and frustration and anger at the impotence imposed upon us because wealth and power have been stripped away from the masses and concentrated in the hands of the few."
— Joshua P. Hill. Vance, violence, and the lie of unity. New Means (Substack). July 16, 2024.