Politicians for both parties loudly praise the courage of Ukrainians defending their democracy from the Russian invasion. Yet, bipartisan defense of democracy disappears when the question is democracy at home. March 7 marked the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when the police attack of a peaceful march of Blacks seeking the right to vote in Selma, Alabama, stirred the outrage that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act. Today the right to vote is once more in question.

We witness the second great drive to suppress voting in American history. The first came after the Civil War, when the Constitution was amended to free the slaves and guarantee the right to vote to African Americans. That sparked a vicious reaction across the South that enforced segregation and suppressed the right to vote for African Americans for more than 100 years.

Today, Republican politicians are making it harder to vote, particularly for those in urban areas, or on Native American reservations, or on college campuses. In July 2021, the Brennan Center reported that lawmakers had introduced at least 389 restrictive bills in 48 states in the 2021 legislative sessions”, while “17 states enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote.”

Add brazenly partisan gerrymandering efforts given a free pass by right-wing judges on the Supreme Court. Worse, election officials across the U.S. are under assault. One in six have received threats of violence; one in three say they feel unsafe. Half of Republicans now agree in polls that force may be necessary to save America’s way of life. As President Joe Biden declared, “We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.”

The reason for the assault is clear. After 2020, Republicans know that they are the minority and their prospects are getting worse as younger, more diverse voters come to the polls. In the last presidential election, Donald Trump captured a stunning 74 million votes, the second-largest total in our history, but Joe Biden – his voters roused largely by opposition to Trump – won 81 million.

When the House of Representatives took up legislation to revive the Voting Rights Act, what used to enjoy bipartisan support was passed only with a partisan divide. Similarly, when the Senate considered the For the People Act that would have created federal safeguards on voting rights, limiting the role of secret money in our politics and reined in gerrymandering, Republican Senator Mike Lee from Utah described it as a bill “written in Hell by the Devil himself.” Republicans used a filibuster to block passage of both bills.

The anniversary of Selma reminds us of how democracy is defended. The Courts did not give African Americans the right to vote. Southern senators blocked any reforms at the federal level for years. In the states, police and organized terror enforced the suppression of Black votes.

African Americans won the right to vote because we and our allies marched for it, demonstrated for it, were beaten and died to gain it. And finally, after Selma, people of conscience across the country demanded that the country live up to its Constitution and its democratic ideals. That is when President Lyndon Johnson could overcome the filibuster and pass the Voting Rights Act.

If the new voter suppression effort is to be overcome, it won’t come from the White House or the Congress. The Justice Department will do its best but will face obstruction from right-wing judges. In states controlled by Republicans, the onslaught is brazen and clear.

What is needed now is massive, unrelenting, passionate organizing to register people to vote and to get them to the polls. Mobilized people won’t be intimidated. With organization, the tricks and traps passed to suppress the vote can be overcome. Workers will have to sacrifice if early voting hours are restricted. Urban voters will have to put up with long lines, since polling sites are being eliminated. Mail ballots will face more obstacles. College students may need to organize the ID needed to qualify to vote on their campuses.

At stake is the direction of the country. Republicans vote against raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, support for families with children, affordable day care, affordable prescription drugs, and fair taxes on the rich. They oppose action on catastrophic climate change. They vote against choice, civil rights, environmental and worker protections. They oppose tuition-free college and student debt relief.

All of these are supported by the vast majority of Americans. So, Republicans try to make voting harder.

We don’t have to risk the bullets of the Ku Klux Klan or the billy clubs of Southern sheriffs as the marchers of Selma faced. We do have to organize to make our voices heard and our votes cast and counted. Historically, the core of the reform majority – African Americans, Hispanics, single women, the young – turn out in smaller numbers in off-year bi-elections. We can’t afford that this year. At stake is literally what kind of country we will live in.

You can write to the Rev. Jesse Jackson in care of this newspaper or by email at jjackson@rainbowpush.org. Follow him on Twitter @RevJJackson.)