On the Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, AAPI Victory Alliance Condemns Attacks to Voter Access for Corporate Gains

WASHINGTON — In observation of the 58th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) becoming law, the AAPI Victory Alliance released a statement condemning the gutting of the VRA by greedy politicians more interested in benefiting corporations and extremist groups than voters. 

AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore issued the following statement:

“Over half a century ago the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law, barring discriminatory policies that kept Black Americans, and AAPIs, from voting in the United States. But today’s resurgence of white supremacy has resulted in systematic weakening of the VRA on a policy level, which has led to violence against our communities in our schools and places of worship. 

“As we observed the 11th anniversary of the horrific mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI this week, there is a somber reminder that while time moves on, the fight for our rights remains. As the gun violence epidemic continues to spread, our elected officials in Washington remain silent about enacting meaningful gun violence prevention legislation — which is top-of-mind for AAPI voters facing discrimination that some elected officials promote. At the same time, Republican legislatures are more concerned with taking away the right to vote than the right for our kids to live. 

“These two issues are interconnected.  As radical Republican legislators gut the Voting Rights Act, everyday people lose more and more power to hold their elected officials accountable and our politics become more extreme. Sadly, politicians are more apt to sell out to corporate donors and the extremist policies they propose like for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). We need to come together and flex our collective power and vote in legislators that champion everyday people, not corporations or extremist organizations.

“AAPI Victory Alliance will continue to organize our communities so we can ensure our families, friends and neighbors come out to vote this November, and every election after. Although some politicians have made it harder for our communities to vote, we will not stop the fight for fully free and fair elections. The arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, and we will ultimately hold those in government who do not represent democracy accountable.”

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