Good Trouble Lives On

Mauni Jalali - Full Speech

Our founders didn’t just break chains with a king, they shattered an entire system of Lords, Barons, and Aristocrats. They declared that power belongs to the people—WE THE PEOPLE.

But here’s what they DIDN’T envision: A rogue federal agency that operates like a modern-day Gestapo. An agency that kicks down doors at 4 AM. An agency that separates children from their parents. An agency that holds people in cages without due process.

THAT AGENCY IS ICE. AND IT HAS NO PLACE IN OUR DEMOCRACY.

The Civil War generation fought to extend democratic promise to ALL PEOPLE—that everyone was endowed with freedom and liberty. But ICE operates like the slave catchers of old, hunting human beings and tearing apart families.

The New Deal generation under FDR battled to make democracy a lived reality for working folks - food, work, welfare. But ICE terrorizes the very working families that built this country—the farmworkers, the healthcare workers, the essential workers who kept us alive during COVID.

The civil rights generation fought to extend the New Deal promise to every person, regardless of color or race. But ICE has become the enforcement arm of white supremacy, targeting Black and Brown communities with military-style raids.

FROM THE FOUNDERS TO LINCOLN TO FDR TO DR. KING—EACH GENERATION FACED THE SAME CHOICE WE FACE TODAY:

Will We The People rise up to defend our democracy? To dismantle the agencies that violate our most sacred principles?

[LONG PAUSE]

THE FIGHTERS WHO CAME BEFORE US—DR. KING, MALCOLM X, JOHN LEWIS, FANNIE LOU HAMER—THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT CIVIL RIGHTS WAS A UNIVERSAL FIGHT.

Dr. King knew that the same forces that oppress people in Vietnam will oppress people at home. And he would NEVER have stood silent while ICE operates the way it does on American soil.

John Lewis marched across that bridge in Selma fighting for voting rights. But what good are voting rights when ICE can trample over your 1st, 4th, 5th-14th Amend. rights?

What we have to ask ourselves is, what are our leaders doing today?

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE PARTY OF CIVIL RIGHTS.

But 75 Democrats voted to THANK ICE in a House resolution. They voted to thank an agency that operates outside constitutional law. outside the bounds of civility - civil rights, laws. They voted to thank an agency that has killed people in custody. They voted to thank an agency that loses track of children.

They voted with REPUBLICANS to thank an agency that betrays a generation of American achievements from the Founding to the Civil Rights Generation.

But Remember we are on the RIGHT SIDE. We have The Founders' belief in Due Process, the Civil Rights Generation belief in Equal Citizenship and Protections for All Persons, We have FDR's vision of welfare for day to day folks, and Dr. King's vision of equality for all people - at home and abroad - that's who we have on our side. The other side have King George III; Slaveholders; Confederates; the KKK; The Corporate barrons during the New Deal Era; and today Stephen Miller and Kash Patel and JD Vance.

We're on the right side of the constitutional equation.

[Pause]

LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING:

Do you think Lincoln would vote to thank slave catchers while fighting slavery?

Do you think FDR would vote to thank the Gestapo while fighting fascism in Europe?

Do you think Dr. King would vote to thank the KKK while marching for freedom?

NO! THESE WERE PRINCIPLED FIGURES WITH A VISION OF WHAT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS LOOK LIKE FOR EVERYDAY FOLKS.

SO LET ME BE CLEAR: You cannot wave the Constitution and claim to defend civil rights while voting to empower ICE—an agency that violates the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and basic human decency every single day.

ICE conducts warrantless raids. ICE detains people without probable cause. ICE denies due process. ICE operates a system of mass incarceration based on civil violations.

THIS IS NOT WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE.

IT’S TIME FOR A GENERATION WHO WILL FIGHT FOR THAT VISION.

A generation that understands you cannot defend democracy while funding agencies that destroy it.

A generation that knows the difference between public safety and state terror.

A generation brave enough to say: ABOLISH ICE AND RESTORE CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.

Because that’s what it means to be American—to wave our sacred Constitution proudly and declare that fascism and tyranny have no place in our democratic institutions.

Lisa Ratner - Full Speech

STOP VOTER SUPPRESSION

I'm Lisa Ratner, co-president of the LWV of Palo Alto. We're here to honor the work of John Lewis in passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most important civil rights law of the 20 th century. The Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby decision gutted the Voting Rights Act by invalidating federal oversight of changes in voting laws in states with a history of racial discrimination. Since Shelby, many states have passed new laws designed to suppress the vote.

Anti-voter changes include purging voters from the rolls, gerrymandering, onerous voter ID requirements, changing polling locations with little notice, eliminating early voting days and drop boxes, and requiring documentary proof of citizenship. These changes have made voting more difficult for minorities, low-income Americans, women, the disabled, and people whose first language isn’t English.

Voters are more vulnerable to discrimination and voter suppression now than at any time since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law more than fifty years ago.

The League belongs to the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of 250 groups from labor, racial justice, faith, women's rights, environmental and good government which lobbies for new laws to strengthen democracy.

The coalition supports The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, the DC Statehood bill and the Native American Voting Rights Act. All 4 bills would expand the right to vote.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the full protections of the bipartisan Voting Rights Act lost in the Shelby decision. This bill passed the House in 2023 but died in a Senate filibuster. It was re-introduced in the House in March 2025.

The Freedom to Vote act sets baseline national standards to protect the freedom to vote. It would modernize and make all Federal Elections more secure. It would require automatic, same day and online registration in the states that do not have it. It would ensure access to voting by mail, ballot drop boxes and early voting. Many states have rescinded these voting methods after the covid epidemic.

It would require create uniform standards for voter ID needed to vote in person. It would also protect against voter roll purges by requiring notice to voters purged within 48 hours. The bill would restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens. The bill would establish an alternative to the current campaign finance system for certain federal offices and increase disclosure of top donors to political campaigns.

The bill would prevent local election officials from being removed for partisan or political reasons. It protects elections from partisan sabotage, ends gerrymandering, and helps curb big money in politics.

Together with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, The Freedom to Vote Act would be the most pro-democracy law enacted in decades. It came close to passage in Congress in 2024 but was killed by the filibuster. It has not yet been introduced in this session of Congress.

Whether you're outraged by attacks on voting and civil rights, the gutting of Medicaid and food stamps, the disappearances of our neighbors by ICE, or the assault on free speech, we invite you to heed the advice of John Lewis: do not despair, join us in making good trouble. Speak out in support of these bills which will help restore our democracy by expanding the vote for every American and making elections more secure.