Taifa Smith Butler is a visionary leader who brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, public policy research, and data analysis in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. She will lead Demos starting July 1, 2021.
Corporate America took a stand for equality and democracy against the state of Georgia. Yet, the unbalanced economic system they’re part of creates an opportunity to reassess corporate power in our society.
Big companies are using data to preserve the power imbalance that keeps them rich. This economic model is rooted in chattel slavery and relies on the extraction and commodification of data.
Corporate and far-right special interests incite deficit fears by manufacturing an artificial crisis around debt. This has consolidated wealth and power in predominantly white corporate hands—and at the expense of Black and brown communities—for decades.
Lawful Use of Same-Day Registration No Basis for Voter Witch-Hunt
XENIA, OH — Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Stephan Haller and Sheriff Gene Fischer abruptly announced they were dropping an investigation into same-day registrants last week, after Demos and other voting rights advocates warned that their actions appeared to violate federal voting rights protections.
“This violation of the Voting Rights Act is part of an anti-democratic pattern levied in response to increasing engagement among young people and voters of color. We cannot — and will not — allow that pattern to stand.”
In collaboration with grassroots and faith-based partners working in communities of color, Demos is challenging Florida’s racially discriminatory attack on voting rights in the wake of unprecedented turnout by voters of color in the 2020 presidential election.
Learn why the 6 policies of our Inclusive Democracy Agenda are critical to building power in Black and brown communities and how organizers are fighting to protect and strengthen our democracy.
Until voters and elected leaders in Baltimore, Maryland took action to bring small donor public financing to their elections, big money in politics was a growing problem in the city.
Columbus, OH — Demos and other voting rights advocates filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio today urging the court to protect Ohio voters against unlawful purges on the eve of the presidential election. The Ohio GOP has asked the court to require mass purges of voters who have registered since January 1, 2008, if last-minute "matching" process shows any discrepancy between voter registration and motor vehicle records.
Making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a step forward, but the real work lies in making practical changes, like taking action to reverse the long-term systemic methods of excluding people of color from our democracy.
As Black, brown, and Native communities across the country face a racist push to undermine the basic freedom to vote, South Dakota must live up to its obligations under the National Voter Registration Act.
We are pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals has come down on the side of the voters, protecting their right to remain on the voter rolls and participate in our democracy.