Lucas,
I proudly marched from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders to stand up for the democratic values that we hold so dear. I have seen our country make great strides forward since. But those rights aren't valuable unless we use them.
But just voting isn't enough. After the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act last year, I stood with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to defend it. There are still too many states that are trying to prevent us from exercising our right to vote.
Too many Tea Party Republican legislatures are trying to pass voter ID laws that disenfranchise minority voters. They claim voter fraud but there's simply no evidence of that. Those Republicans are spending hundreds of millions of dollars, while their states are broke, to prevent us from voting.
Stand with me to protect our right to vote.
These obstacles to voting are especially significant for Hispanics, who are too often denied a vote. I've seen the great contributions Hispanic Americans make to our country but they aren't fairly represented. Too many of them are denied citizenship and even citizens are tarred and denied their full set of rights.
But the great thing about America is that within the voting booth, all people are equal. Help make sure that we can all vote.
Thank you,
Charles B. Rangel
Member of Congress