Statement to be attributed to Demos President K. Sabeel Rahman
Declaring a “national emergency” for a manufactured border crisis represents an egregious power grab. It is a flagrant abuse of the office of the president.
In proclaiming a “national emergency,” President Donald Trump has invoked special authority to follow through on his plans to spend billions of dollars to build a border wall. The wall is unnecessary, unpopular, and morally objectionable.
On Friday, February 15, Lew Daly, Senior Policy Analyst at Demos, testified in support of New York State’s Climate and Community Protection Act. Following is Daly’s statement on the bill:
New York State’s Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA) is a bold and necessary climate action policy for the people of New York. It will establish the strongest mandate for economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the country, requiring a 50 percent reduction by 2030 and set a timeline for achieving a 100 percent renewable energy economy by 2050.
American immigrants—of which I am one—cannot pretend that America’s history as a slave society bears no relation and has no consequence for the America that they live in today. We cannot carve the history of racial oppression out of the history of America.
H.R. 1 is a comprehensive proposal to address the deep political, racial and economic inequities that diminish the voices of everyday people, and particularly people of color.
In testimony before the Committee on House Administration Thursday morning, Demos will express strong support of H.R.1 – the For the People Act – a bold bill that addresses systemic racial, political, and economic inequities that continue to restrict full participation in American democracy.
The New York State Senate and Assembly heard arguments for public financing of elections, the best policy tool we have to push back against the presence of big money in politics and to push forward on the march toward racial equity.
We talk about the Black people who overcame oppression but not about the people—overwhelming white and powerful—who created the oppression others had to overcome. This must change.
Climate change poses an existential challenge to the planet. But the effects of climate change have fallen disproportionately on communities of color and working families. And the reality is that climate change has been accelerated by a coalition of corporations, donors, and policymakers who have adopted a willful blindness toward these dangers to our communities and our planet.
I talk to my children about how they—who have ethnic roots in Ireland, China, Samoa, Germany, Switzerland, and the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, but as far as we know, no African ancestry—are beneficiaries of the struggles of black history.
Yesterday, Demos and 4 other civil rights legal organizations filed an emergency motion to stop Texas from discriminating against voters of color and purging naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote from the voter rolls.
As a child, I vividly remember my Puerto Rican mom always watching the Oprah Winfrey Show, and I distinctly remember Oprah Winfrey and her show being my first real exposure to black culture, besides my black father and his family.
Today, Black History Month is an invitation to face with confidence the tragedies and trials that break our hearts, to be fearless in hope and unyielding in our fight for justice — for all of us.
We at Demos are acutely aware of, and actively fighting against, the racist policies, beliefs, political tactics and narratives that have created and deepened the racial divide in our country. On this third annual National Day of Racial Healing*, we are reflecting on the ways in which we can unite to heal the wounds of racial division and the centuries of trauma they have caused for people of color.
The racial equity groups’ have a formal partnership that has seen them work collaboratively over the past 5-7 years to clear barriers to the ballot box, champion the humanity of undocumented communities and communities of color, organize to stop mass incarceration and end the criminalization of Native, Black and Latino communities.
Albany, New York – Demos applauds New York lawmakers for passing a historic overhaul of the state’s outdated voting laws, and legislation to increase transparency around corporate donors. With this groundbreaking push for election reform, New York will shift from having some of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation to being a leader in creating a just democracy.
Demos estimates that National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) compliance work across nearly 2 dozen states has resulted in more than 3 million new voter registration applications through public assistance agencies covered by Section 7 of the NVRA, as noted in a new report, “Toward a More Representative Electorate.”