[Peace] two powerful letters

[Debra Schrishuhn]

To celebrate Juneteenth this month, Progressive Democrats of America
has prepared letters to our Senators and our U.S. Representatives
asking for expansion of voting rights, ending racial profiling, and DC
statehood.

Please reply to this email or directly to me at deb at pdamerica.org to
add your name (letters appended below).

Progressive Democrats of America will have a booth again at this
year's Juneteenth Emancipation Celebration in Douglass Park, Saturday,
June 20, noon-3 p.m Please join us to share good ideas, good
candidates, and good conversation.

Peace to us all,
Deb

To: The Honorable Rodney Davis/John Shimkus

June 22, 2015

As active voters in District 13/15, we ask you to join with us
observing Juneteenth also known as Independence Day, Freedom Day, or
Emancipation Day. To honor this celebration of freedom, justice, and
participation in America, we call upon you to cosponsor the following
legislation to protect and promote voting and civil rights, (if you
haven't already):

Please direct your staff to contact Rep. John Lewis' office at
(202)-225-3801 to cosponsor the Voter Empowerment Act (H.R. 12), to
"modernize voter registration, promote access to voting for
individuals with disabilities, protect the ability of individuals to
exercise the right to vote in elections for Federal office, and for
other purposes."

Please direct your staff to contact Rep. John Conyers' office at
(202)-225-5126 to cosponsor 3 bills: the Democracy Restoration Act
(H.R. 1459), to "secure the Federal voting rights of persons when
released from incarceration";

Also to cosponsor the End Racial Profiling Act (H.R. 1933), to
"eliminate racial profiling by law enforcement, and for other
purposes";

And to cosponsor the Commission to Study Reparations for African
Americans Act (H.R. 40), to "acknowledge the fundamental injustice,
cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and
the 13 American colonies,” and “to establish a commission to examine
the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial
and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact
of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations
to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes."

Please also direct your staff to contact Rep. Hakeem Jeffries' office
at (202)-225-5936 to cosponsor the Formerly Incarcerated Voter
Registration Act (H.R. 871), to "amend title 18, United States Code,
to direct the Bureau of Prisons to provide certain voting information
to Federal prisoners upon their release from prison."

Please also direct your staff to contact Del. Eleanor Norton's office
at (202)-225-8050 to cosponsor the New Columbia Admissions Act (H.R.
317), to "provide for the admission of the State of New Columbia into
the Union."

We look forward to engaging you on these and other issues in the future.

========================

Dear Senator Durbin/Kirk:

As active voters in Illinois, we ask you to join with us observing
Juneteenth also known as Independence Day, Freedom Day, or
Emancipation Day. To honor this celebration of freedom, justice, and
participation in America, we call upon you to cosponsor the following
legislation, (if you haven't already): the New Columbia Admissions Act
(bill number pending), the End Racial Profiling Act (S. 1056) and the
Democracy Restoration Act (S. 772).

Please direct your staff to contact Sen. Thomas Carper's office at
(202)-224-2441 to cosponsor the New Columbia Admissions Act (bill
number pending), to "provide for the admission of the State of New
Columbia into the Union."

Please direct your staff to contact Sen. Benjamin Cardin's office at
(202)-224-4524 to cosponsor the Democracy Restoration Act (S. 772), to
secure Federal voting rights of Americans who've paid their debt to
society and want to re-enter the mainstream. Currently, several states
refuse to restore voting rights in an arbitrary and capricious manner,
disproportionately impacting racial minorities.

Also to contact Sen. Cardin's office to cosponsor the End Racial
Profiling Act (S. 1056), legislation that would prohibit "any law
enforcement agent or agency from engaging in racial profiling. Grants
the United States or an individual injured by racial profiling the
right to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief" and require federal
law enforcement agencies, and other law enforcement agencies that
apply for grants under certain federal programs, to "maintain adequate
policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling and to cease
existing practices that permit racial profiling."

We thank you for your consideration regarding these critically
important issues, and look forward to ongoing discussion and
engagement with you in the coming months.