Our Time Is Now
Description
From New York Times bestselling author of Lead From The Outside and political leader Stacey Abrams, a blueprint to end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country.
"With each page, she inspires and empowers us to create systems that reflect a world in which all voices are heard and all people believe and feel that they matter." -Kerry Washington
A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams chronicles a chilling account of how the right to vote and the principle of democracy have been and continue to be under attack. Abrams would have been the first African American woman governor, but experienced these effects firsthand, despite running the most innovative race in modern politics as the Democratic nominee in Georgia. Abrams didn't win, but she has not conceded. The book compellingly argues for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census, and a return to moral international leadership.
Our Time Is Now draws on extensive research from national organizations and renowned scholars, as well as anecdotes from her life and others' who have fought throughout our country's history for the power to be heard. The stakes could not be higher. Here are concrete solutions and inspiration to stand up for who we are-now.
"This is a narrative that describes the urgency that compels me and millions more to push for a different American story than the one being told today. It's a story that is one part danger, one part action, and all true. It's a story about how and why we fight for our democracy and win." - Stacey Abrams
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Content
Introduction: Who Is Stealing America's Future?
Real Access to the Right to Vote Isn't a Guarantee-And That's a Problem
Who We Are Matters: Identity Politics and the Census Defeating Populism and Winning Elections to Save Democracy
Chapter 1: Everything Old Is New Again
Deny and Delay: The Fight for Voting Rights Never Ended Suppression Starts with Who Belongs Here
A Moment's Grace: Reconstruction to a False Redemption A Dim Light Grows: The Rise and Fall of the Voting Rights Act
Chapter 2: A License to Be Heard (Voter Registration)
No New Voices
No Transparency Is the Point
You're Outta Here: Excessive Voter Purges
Chapter 3: Getting Beyond the Gates (Access to the Ballot)
The False Seduction of Voter ID There's No Voting at a Closed Poll
When Voting Isn't Easy, It Can Be Impossible
Chapter 4: When the Numbers Lie (Ballot Counting)
Signatures, Rejections, Curing, Oh My!: Absentee Ballots How a Safety Net Became a Trap: Provisional Ballots
Broken Infrastructure: Malfunctioning Machines, Hours- Long Lines, and Other Barriers
Chapter 5: taking Our Power Back
Staying in the Rigged Game How We Begin
Fixing the System for Good
Chapter 6: We Can See You and So Should they
Class Warfare Begins
More Than the Sum of Our Parts Why Who We Are Matters
Chapter 7: How the Census Shapes America
The Significance of the United States Census The Census Could Save Us
Collateral Damage: Gerrymandering End the Electoral College
Chapter 8: the Playbook
Reject the Myth of the Magical Voter
Putting Our Money and Information Where Our Votes Are Run as You Are
Chapter 9: Populism and the Death of Democracy
Taking Power from the People
The Rise of Authoritarian Populism as Democracy's Enemy Getting Our Credibility Back
Chapter 10: the Next Best Version of America
Afterword
Author's Note
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
