Earlier this week, DHS began scrutinizing voter records and nonprofits that run voter registration drives. Then, this morning, news broke that ICE officials have instructed officers to escalate their arrests from the previous goal of 1,000 per day to 3,000 per day leading up to the midterm elections. They are doing this to perpetuate a racist conspiracy theory about immigrant voters and because they know that an expanded, multiracial electorate is bad for authoritarianism.
As you know, dispelling these lies with white voters is where SURJ members roll up their sleeves and get to work. Today is day 8 of our 10 day Grassroots Fundraising drive, and a SURJ donor has agreed to match all donations up to $25,000 until the end of the drive! Can you give a gift (that will be doubled!) to power this work before our deadline on Saturday?
“The whole point of Democratic immigration policy is to ensure political control. Replace the population, get a different outcome.” – Tucker Carlson, August 2021
Dr. Ibram X Kendi, who joined us last week on a powerful webinar, identifies this thinking as a key component of the Great Replacement Theory. By creating the fear in white communities that they’re being replaced by people of color, white people turn to authoritarian “strongmen” to allegedly protect their identity and ways of life.
Racism is at the core of Trump’s claims of a “rigged” voting system. Whether it’s the baseless conspiracy against immigrants or the gutting of the Voting Rights Act– redrawn districts now affect nearly 10% of American voters– MAGA and billionaires are running an incredibly well-funded propaganda machine to erode trust in democratic institutions by fanning the flames of a racist and transphobic mania.
This has devastating consequences on targeted communities. And it means that all of us suffer under an authoritarian regime that props up a few wealthy white people.
It’s true that there are far too many white people who are dug-in Trump supporters, but there are many more who could go either way– who might have voted for him once because of false promises, but are disillusioned and, when we engage them in conversation, understand that people of color aren’t the root of what’s wrong in this country.
Thank you for your support and commitment to fighting racism and authoritarianism,
SURJ
Showing Up for Racial Justice
PO Box 1376
Buffalo, NY 14205
United States