One year ago today, the world moved both in slow motion and hyperspeed all at once. I woke up, planning to watch the certification of the election for the first time in my life. I had never watched it before, as it seemed so routine, so mundane - a procedural necessity. But last year, it felt important. The world was too shaky, too uncertain, and too many things that I had accepted as impossibilities had already happened. I needed to see it with my own eyes - it didn’t feel like a foregone conclusion.
And then there were insurrectionists. And outrage. And violence. Up was down. Down was up. Everything seemed to move so fast, and at the same time, it was all so surreal, it seemed to move so slowly. Our staff at the League paused all of our planned work, and virtually watched the events unfold together, holding space for one another to process what was unraveling at the Capitol. You see, we are here - everyday - from the time we wake up, to the time we go to sleep at night, thinking about and fighting for our democracy and for voters. But that day, one year ago, we watched as cracks emerged in the foundation of the things all of us at the League work hardest for and care about so deeply. We watched the context of the world shift. We sat in disbelief, wondering how this was reality.
My email had sporadic notes of shock from League members. My texts were eerily silent, with the occasional “What? Is this really happening?” as we all watched and tried to grapple with what we were seeing. And we all know the next chapter. The vote was certified, and our elected President and Vice President were sworn into office. Many of us exhaled a deep, existential breath we didn’t even know we had been holding when we saw the orderly transition of power with the inauguration. Our democracy and democratic systems had endured the greatest immediate threat of most of our lifetimes.
And nothing has been the same since then. That day was not a period at the end of the sentence, but a comma - a brief breath - leading us to the next stages of saving our democracy. We are all fighting, together, for fair voting rights and fair electoral districts across California and the country. We are fighting to fix the cracks we saw form in our democracy - and every single person in the League helps bring that change. You show up in the ways that you can. In your conversations, your financial support, your volunteer work, your community engagement - we are all in this together. From pushing advancement of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, to advancing safe election access in California by permanently providing mail ballots to all California voters, together, we are on the front lines of preserving our democracy.
That’s what gives me hope. On this day, the one year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, I honor and celebrate League members across California. Your strength, tenacity, and dedication to our democracy and to voters reminds me every day that we are stronger together. That things worth having are worth fighting for. There are good people everywhere coming together to do what needs to be done to save our democracy. So, on the anniversary of a dark day in our history, thank you for your light. For shining as a beacon of hope, justice, and better days to come. I am proud to lead with you and stand alongside you in this work.
