Presbyterian Mission Office of Washington Report Public Witness to Presbyterians Raising a Prophetic Voice through the Social Justice Policy of Presbyterians since 1946 FALL 2020 Voter Suppression in the Midst of COVID-19 By Christian Brooks, Associate for Domestic Issues

A s the 2020 presidential election quickly approaches, it is more critical than ever that we take action to reclaim the values and promise of our electoral process. Since a 2013 Supreme Court ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act, voter suppression has been on the rise and has denied voting rights to millions, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The impacts of COVID-19 will further exacerbate voter suppression. It was not until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that many Black Americans were able to register to vote and participate in the democratic process. Prior to the VRA, states used literacy tests, poll taxes, moral character tests and grandfather clauses to deter Black people from voting. Combined with efforts of white Lyndon B. Johnson 36th President of the United States of America signing the Americans, such as threats of violence, Voting Rights Act of 1965 beatings, lynchings, and the loss of property and jobs, these measures kept which states and counties were subject of citizenship, restrictions on voter many Black Americans off the voting to a preclearance requirement based on registration, and unduly limiting early rolls. their historical use of suppressive tactics, and absentee voting opportunities. The VRA provided federal was unconstitutional. The preclearance A number of these tactics were enforcement of voting rights requirement mandated jurisdictions used in the 2018 Georgia midterm and created mechanisms of oversight with a history of voter suppression to election, a historical election where for states and localities with a history of seek preapproval from the Department Stacey Abrams sought to become the voter suppression. After the passage of of Justice before passing or changing first Black female governor in the the VRA, the number of eligible Black voting laws. Removing the preclearance United States. Voter suppression and voters registered rose by 61%, according requirement took away the federal disenfranchisement will only continue to the Library of Congress. This was a government’s authority for enforcement as COVID-19 continues to ravage pivotal step toward equality for Black and oversight, leaving millions of citizens the country. The 2020 Wisconsin and Americans. However, its gains have been of color vulnerable to voter suppression. Georgia primaries are proof of that. virtually halted. Since this ruling, many states have Though many states have On June 25, 2013, the Supreme passed extremely restrictive voting implemented measures such as early Court ruled that Section 4(b) of the laws. Among these are restrictive voter voting and mail-in voting to make voting Voting Rights Act, which identified ID requirements, voter purges, proof easier amid COVID-19, BIPOC are (Continued on page 2)

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Voter Suppression (Continued from page 1) still at a disadvantage. Voting by mail easily access an early voting location and In 2008, in the policy Lift Every has historically been an issue for Black, cannot take advantage of this option. Voice, the 218th General Assembly of the Indigenous and People of Color. For This system of racism and voter Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirmed example, many indigenous voters live on suppression was in place long before that “to deny anyone a fair vote is a tribal lands that lack residential addresses COVID-19. Without addressing the sin.” Denying equitable and safe access and reliable postal infrastructure. racist structures in place, the COVID-19 to voting is a sin and fundamentally BIPOC are overrepresented in the response will not mitigate the effects goes against our Reformed Christian homeless population and, therefore, do of the discriminatory voting system. beliefs. Every person has inherent worth not have access to residential addresses Black, Indigenous and People of Color and value and deserves an equal voice needed for “stress-free” mail-in voting. will not be able to fully benefit from in our democratic system. As people Though early voting is available, the early voting and voting by mail. We of faith, it is our collective call and number of in-person early voting must address historic issues of systemic responsibility to fight against structures locations is limited. Without access racism and voter suppression so that all of oppression and systemic racism and to reliable transportation, one cannot people can exercise their right to vote. ensure equitable access to voting for all. Presbyterian Mission Office of Public Witness Washington Report to Presbyterians | p3

DISASTER TO DISASTER: persons, and for other purposes.” Thisbill would create a “global climate How Climate Change resilience strategy,” which would create a humanitarian program that would give is Displacing Vulnerable the same rights and benefits to people displaced by climate change as afforded to refugees. Though a potential step in the Populations right direction, this legislation has stalled By Hannah Graunke, Office of Public Witness Summer Fellow in the Committee on Foreign Relations since its introduction. While the committee debates this A n alarming 2018 World Bank nation those seeking refuge after legislation, millions of people continue to study reported that over 143 million their homelands have been rendered watch their homeland turn to wasteland people could be displaced by 2050 uninhabitable by climate change. without hope of international assistance. due to climate change if we do not The poorest countries contribute Ignoring the gross inequities of climate make significant efforts to curb less than 1% of total emissions, yet they displacement is to deliberately turn a carbon emissions. Low crop yield, most acutely face the effects of climate blind eye to people we are called to love extreme weather events, freshwater change. This is especially true as we and protect. The Belhar Confessions contamination and rising sea levels are see the slow-onset consequences of our remind us to “stand by people in any already making portions of the globe industrialization. For example, many form of suffering and need [and that] the uninhabitable. In 2019 alone, weather experts point to extreme droughts in church is called to confess and to do all disasters intensified by global climate Syria as one of the main causes of the these things, even though the authorities change displaced an estimated 24.9 recent war. Many of the refugees who and human laws might forbid them million people across 140 countries and fled Syria were escaping not just conflict, and punishment and suffering be the territories. Unfortunately, international but water insecurity. Unpredictable consequence.” If we are to live by this refugee laws do not specifically address changes to the rainy season have led confession, then we have a responsibility climate displacement, leaving the to droughts and floods, causing high to care for the most vulnerable of God’s millions of people displaced by climate food insecurity and migration in sub- Creation, nature and humanity alike. As change without international assistance. Saharan Africa, where roughly 70% of citizens of a wealthy nation that is the The United States has contributed the population depends on subsistence main contributor to climate change, we largely to climate change; we single- farming. In Tuvalu, almost 10% of total have a duty to welcome and protect those handedly produce a quarter of all human movement between 2005–15 was whose displacement we have directly carbon emissions. It is, therefore, attributed to changing environmental caused. For “if anyone has material our responsibility to accept into our conditions, including worsening water possessions and sees a brother or sister in quality, sea level rise and droughts. need but has no pity on them, how can Unfortunately, international refugee the love of God be in that person?” laws are ill-equipped to support people (1 John 3:17, NIV). displaced by climate change. Despite Here in the United States, we have international recognition that climate the resources to help our siblings who change is causing mass displacement, are in need. We are one of the largest climate displacement does not fall under polluters on the planet, and the poorest an internationally recognized refugee populations suffer as a result. If we truly category. This prevents the people want to live as Christ lived, we should affected by climate change from receiving be opening our doors to those in need. international assistance and protections. Recognizing our own complicity in On Sept. 26, 2019, Sen. Ed Markey the displacement of our siblings across (D-Mass.) introduced to the Senate bill the world, we must actively advocate S. 2565 “to establish a Global Climate for legislation that will give legal Change Resilience Strategy, to authorize protections to those fleeing the negative the admission of climate-displaced consequences of climate change. Presbyterian Mission Office of Public Witness Washington Report to Presbyterians | p4 The Case for Defunding the Police By Christian Brooks, Associate for Domestic Issues and Lloyd Davis, Office of Public Witness Summer Fellow

Policing in America is a 182-year-old-institution police departments. Defunding the police with the mantra “to protect and serve.” means reallocating funds to other important but Unfortunately, that protection has not extended underfunded programs and institutions such as to all Americans. Over the past few decades, police social welfare programs, schools, mental health have been caught on camera beating, and in many services or other community resources. According cases, killing Black people. The recent recording of to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with a George Floyd’s gruesome murder sparked outrage mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed and protests around the world. Floyd’s murder shined by law enforcement. Mental health professionals a light on the police violence the African American are far more equipped to handle those situations. community has experienced for years. For many, it A 2017 study by the Center for Popular generated conversations about defunding the police. Democracy determined that police funding To understand the necessity of defunding the consumes 20% to 45% of cities’ budgets. As police, one must first examine the history of law we have seen with the recent protests, taxpayer enforcement. Policing in the U.S. has a past rooted dollars are going toward riot gear, tear gas, in white supremacy. In the early 19th century, heavily armored vehicles and rubber bullets. southern states created slave patrols as an early However, in these same communities, public form of policing. Slave patrols were tasked with school teachers spend nearly $500 a year of their capturing runaway enslaved people and preventing own money to buy school supplies for students, revolts, to preserve the system of slavery. Racialized according to a 2018 Department of Education policing continued after the end of slavery in 1865 survey. Reallocated funds will give communities as “Black Codes,” enforced by all-white police the resources they need most, which in turn will forces, restricted the liberties of African Americans. reduce crime and decrease instances of police Policing during the Jim Crow era, between violence. A 2015 study by the Urban Health Lab 1877–1965, utilized methods that included racial found that rehabbing abandoned housing units led profiling, over-policing, intimidation, harassment to a significant drop in crime rates, gun assaults and violence. These methods of policing continue. and nuisance misdemeanors in Philadelphia. In response, the House of Representatives The call to combat systemic racism is one passed the Justice in Policing Act on June 25, of the most prominent callings of our lifetime. 2020, which seeks to “hold law enforcement In 2016, the 222nd General Assembly of the accountable for misconduct and reform police Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) called for a rejection training and policies.” While this bill is a step in of racism and white supremacy “in its myriad the right direction, it does not go far enough to of forms.” The General Assembly affirmed that undo the inherently discriminatory practices that “Christians align ourselves with love and not have been in place since policing was founded. hate, both a rejection of racism and a positive For decades, activists have called for defunding proclamation that God delights in Black lives.” Presbyterian Mission Office of Public Witness Washington Report to Presbyterians | p5 Boycott: An Act of Christian Witness By Meg Wilder, Office of Public Witness Summer Fellow

settlement products arose out of a deep defeated anti-boycott legislation. The Gospels tell us that Jesus was concern for injustice perpetrated by the However, according to Foreign Policy a protester. In the fourth chapter of occupation of Palestinian territories. magazine, “these laws have created a the Gospel of Luke, Jesus stood up The U.N. has repeatedly expressed chilling effect on companies, which in the synagogue and spoke against that growing Israeli settlements are typically say that their hands are tied the injustices of society. Putting his illegal under international law. Such when it comes to exiting occupied safety at risk, he boldly proclaimed the settlements threaten the economic and territory.” Such legislation therefore release of prisoners, sight for the blind, political livelihood of Palestinians and perpetuates an unequal and unjust relief for the poor and freedom for the serve as one stumbling block to a viable economic system in the Palestinian oppressed. Throughout his life, Jesus Palestinian economy. The Presbyterian Territories. protested the status quo and created a Church (U.S.A.) and many other Throughout our history, the movement based on justice, hope and organizations have called for the use of Presbyterian Church has employed love. As the Body of Christ on Earth economic pressures to challenge this boycotts and protests as a way to bear today, we are called to do just as Jesus injustice and oppression. However, state, witness to our Christian faith. In recent did: protest hatred and oppression, and local and federal politicians have passed years, the PC(USA) General Assembly fight for justice. laws intended to suppress the grassroots has approved policies to divest from boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) companies that profit from the Israeli movement for Palestinian rights. occupation of Palestine. PC(USA) policy Palestine Legal, an independent civil also affirms boycotting products made rights organization, reports that, to date, on Israeli settlements, which are built 30 states have adopted anti-boycott laws, on Palestinian land in violation of including five executive orders issued by their human rights and international governors. In January 2019, the U.S. law. The Presbyterian Mission Agency Senate passed the Combating BDS Act views economic protest as an effective (CBA), an anti-boycott bill intended means to spurring social change, to stop economic protest in support of from strengthening labor rights for Palestinian rights. In response to this bill, farmworkers to ending apartheid the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the in South Africa. The church’s use of Stated Clerk of the General Assembly economic protest reflects its theological of the PC(USA), said the bill “threatens commitment to opposing injustice the Constitutionally protected right through nonviolent means. We must of Americans to engage in boycotts in continue to defend our right to oppose support of human rights causes.” While oppression through protests and the House of Representatives has not boycott. Our Palestinian siblings need taken up the bill, by passing the CBA, us. Palestinian labor and land are being the Senate sent a clear message that the exploited. These unjust practices must right to boycott is not protected for those cease. The Gospel of Luke teaches us, advocating for justice in Israel/Palestine. Jesus came to earth to challenge unjust Numerous faith and civil liberties authorities and set free those who are Unfortunately, today, the right to groups such as the PC(USA) and oppressed. We must do the same and live boycott and protest is in peril. Since the American Civil Liberties Union into God’s vision for a just world. 2014, over 100 measures targeting have condemned these measures To learn more about how you can boycotts and other advocacy for as infringements upon the First defend your First Amendment rights and Palestinian rights have been introduced Amendment right to free speech. speak out against anti-boycott legislation, in U.S. federal, state and local Because of their unconstitutionality, visit righttoboycott.com. legislatures. The boycott of Israeli activists in several states have successfully Presbyterian Mission Office of Public Witness Washington Report to Presbyterians | p6 Congressman remembers Rep. John Lewis in talk with Office of Public Witness By Rich Copley, Presbyterian News Service

Rep. David Price of In Congress, Price said Lewis became In the August conversation, properly North Carolina covered “a treasured colleague and friend,” socially distanced on Zoom, Price and many topics in online but the legend was never far away. Hawkins discussed current events, interview with Office “You don’t sum up the man including the COVID-19 pandemic, of Public Witness and his greatness simply in his the uprising for police reform and work as a legislator, as important against systemic racism following as that is,” Price said. several police and police-related C ongressman David Price (D-North killings of Black individuals, and the Carolina) entered the U.S. House of upcoming presidential election. Representatives in 1987, the same year “John was always ready to talk “These are extraordinary as another Southern Congressman, about the Movement, and by that times,” Price said. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia). he meant, not just the history, but the With the passing of Lewis, Price “Of course, I knew about John present meaning of the Movement, said voting rights are very much at the Lewis a long time before I came to and the need to keep pushing forward. forefront of many legislators’ minds, the Congress,” Price recalled during I witnessed that so many times.” particularly the restoration of protections an interview with the Rev. Jimmie in the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were Hawkins of the PC(USA) Office of — Rep. David Price struck down by the Supreme Court in Public Witness. “We knew right away 2013, when the court ruled that states that John was the celebrity in our and local governments with a history group, because when any news media One of those moments was in of voter discrimination no longer had or the public was around … John was 2016, when Lewis led a dramatic to submit to pre-clearance to change the one who had the star power.” sit-in on the floor of the U.S. voting rules. Price called it “the most Lewis, of course, came to House of Representatives to clueless Supreme Court decision” in Congress as a hero of the Civil Rights force a vote on gun control. history and said, “We’ve got to fix it.” Movement, putting his body on “We couldn’t get anything on the In 2019, the House passed the the line numerous times for arrests floor, even for a vote,” Price recalled Voting Rights Advancement Act, and beatings at the hands of police of efforts to introduce legislation after which has since been renamed to honor officers and white supremacists, and numerous mass-shooting tragedies. Lewis. So far, Senate Majority Leader earning many distinctions, including “The other party was in leadership at Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has as the youngest speaker at the historic that point, so we did this unprecedented refused to bring the bill up in the March on Washington in 1963. thing of having a sit-in on the floor. Senate. Price said passage of the John Lewis died at age 80 on July 17 “It made an enormous difference Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act following a six-month battle with cancer. to have John be a part of that. It bore is one of the most important things He was the first Black lawmaker to lie in witness to the continuity of what he Congress can do and would be a fitting state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda before stood for all his life and this cause. … I tribute to his friend and colleague. being eulogized by former President promise you, the House leadership was “That’s a fond dream of mine, and Barack Obama and remembered by going to be really careful about evicting a many of my colleagues,” Price said, “to former presidents George W. Bush and sit-in if John Lewis was in the middle of pass the voting rights bill and name it for Bill Clinton and by many others. it. It gave them pause, and it should have John, because he fought so hard for it.” Presbyterian Mission Office of Public Witness Washington Report to Presbyterians | p7

PRESBYTERIAN AUGUST 24-30, 2020 OF WEEK ACTION

It is abundantly clear through the gospel narrative and the greater witness of the Bible, that God has called us, as people of faith, to seek justice for those most marginalized in our world. As a Matthew 25 denomination, it is the vision of our church to eradicate white supremacy and dismantle institutionalized racism. Furthermore, in an effort to do the “hands & feet” work the Lord ordains, we must act and bear witness to the gospel in these crucial times. On August 24th-28, the national staff hosted the Presbyterian Week of Action. This endeavor provided a public witness that facilitated education, visibility and action that reinforced our PC(USA) statements and policy around the support of eradicating racism and acknowledging that God loves all Black lives. To view recordings and resources from the Presbyterian Week of Action please visit pcusa.org/weekofaction.

“To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” — Proverbs 21:3 “God sends the Church to work for justice in the world: exercising its power for the common good; dealing honestly in personal and public spheres; seeking dignity and freedom for all people…” — Book of Order, W-5.0304 Presbyterian Mission Office of WASHINGTON REPORT TO PRESBYTERIANS (ISSN Public Witness NO. 1093-5436) is published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness, 100 Maryland Ave. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) NE, Ste. 410, Washington, DC 20002 (202-543-1126). Office of Public Witness Periodicals postage paid Washington, DC. Postmaster: Send Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministries address changes to Washington Report to Presbyterians, 100 Maryland Avenue, NE Suite 410 100 Maryland Ave. NE, Ste. 410, Washington, DC 20002. Washington, DC 20002-5625 For subscription information, please contact that address or email [email protected].

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