Say No to Jim Crow - Action Alert, May 18, 2026

"We should not have to march in 2026 to protect voting rights for all Americans. We are at a moral low as a nation when people are stripped of their right to vote because of the color of their skin. But if we have to fight that same fight again, we will. And no one will turn us around."

-- Joyce Vance

Our Long but Winnable Voting Rights Fight

Following last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, we've had another week of hard news - as southern states, including our own, competed with each other in what Joyce Vance accurately describes as a "race to the bottom." But as Saturday's inspiring protests in Selma reminded us, the Callais decision and the ongoing cascade of local decisions stealing voting rights from Black and Hispanic voters will not succeed. Special elections --- even in reliably red states like Florida --- have proven the vulnerability of the GOP in the face of an illegal and unpopular war; rising gas, housing, insurance, and food costs; cuts in health care and education funding; cruel immigration policies, and attacks on our basic rights and freedoms. Trump voters who now feel betrayed by Trump, voters who regret skipping the last election, and people of all parties outraged by the open corruption, deliberate cruelty, and near constant assaults on voting rights and other democratic norms, are voting strongly for change. While cheating gerrymanders can shuffle the deck on House races, they cannot gerrymander whole states -- which means Democratic control of the Senate grows more plausible every day. There are 170 days until the midterm election. We can still win this!

• Volunteer! Knock on doors, text, phone, and get out the vote. Pick a local candidate you believe in and volunteer. Want to help turn Duval blue? Volunteer here. 

• Register voters. BAM is partnering with People Power for Florida to register voters. We need more people trained in the registration process. Email us if you are interested in helping!

• Support the legal battles. With the US Justice Department and the Supreme Court too often undermining voting rights, the organizations waging the legal fights to protect our vote and a fair electoral process need our help. Leading groups include the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Also, add your name to this ACLU petition urging the President to stop his illegal attempts to interfere with the electoral process.

• Advocate for and protect voting rights. Demand that Congress address partisan and racial gerrymandering and restore and update the full protections of the landmark Voting Rights Act by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Email FL Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, and Rep. John Rutherford, or reach them through the Capitol switchboard (202.224.3121) and tell them you are outraged by efforts to disenfranchise voters of color and expect them to support these bills.

Nate Monroe's Full House

No one misses Covid isolation, but our BAM meeting last Thursday made us slightly nostalgic for Zoom meetings - which would have given us a recording to share with everyone who couldn't be there. More than 50 people packed Adele Grage for a fascinating hour with the man many of us learned to love in his years at the Times Union - now heading up the online-only Florida Trib. Nate offered insights into the state of local media here in Florida, detailed the growing newsroom at the Trib, and the many ways his publication is collaborating with other media groups here and beyond Florida. Though all are welcome to read the Trib for free, if you appreciate quality investigative journalism, consider a subscription or donation.  

As an unexpected bonus, we also learned that, although the Beaches Leader has officially closed up shop, we are NOT going to lose local news coverage. Stay tuned for more news about the Beaches Gazette, a new, nonprofit online venture launching in June or July to cover the news of Atlantic, Neptune and Jax Beach!

More To Do This Week

• Oppose ICE, CBP & War Reconciliation Funding Bill.  Republicans continue to push a reconciliation package including over $70 billion for three years of additional ICE/CBP funding. The reconciliation process allows the passage of bills with a simple majority and would not only fund  ICE and CBP, but also the illegal war in Iran, whose costs the administration is heavily underestimating. If passed, all these new expenditures will have to be offset by equivalent budget cuts, likely impacting essential social safety net programs. As this analysis by the group Families Over Billionaires details, Floridians are already losing too much to federal policies. So our fight against this massive spending bill and for reasonable reforms of ICE continues. Demand that FL Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, and Rep. John Rutherford oppose a budget reconciliation bill that funds ICE and Border Patrol without any reforms or accountability. And no supplemental funding for the Iran war! 5 Calls has a great script!

• No White House Ballroom. The GOP's over-stuffed reconciliation bill also includes $1 billion for "security" related features of Trump's audacious vanity ballroom project. Meanwhile, Congress is cutting food stamps, education, and health care for Americans. Reach out to Scott, Moody, and Rutherford and tell them what you think. 5 Calls makes it easy.

Join the Beaches Library Saturday Protest

At the end of a tough week, many of us are discovering one of the best ways to shake off the gloom of the national news is to pour our frustrations or hopes into a sign and join the crowd at the Beaches Library (10 - 11:30 a.m.)  It's a great way to meet like-minded people and encourage our neighbors to think twice about policies they may not like - and join us in objecting. Thanks to the Neptune Beach Coalition for organizing!

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RAISE HOTLINE: 1-888-600-5762

Have you recently seen, interacted with, been detained, or know someone impacted by ICE? Call the hotline. Alert local Legal Observers and connect detainees with assistance and resources. Email us to learn more about how you can help!

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