{"id":3910,"date":"2022-01-21T11:10:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T16:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weact.org\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-responds-to-the-status-of-voting-rights-legislation-and-the-build-back-better-act\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T18:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:32:36","slug":"we-act-for-environmental-justice-responds-to-the-status-of-voting-rights-legislation-and-the-build-back-better-act","status":"publish","type":"update","link":"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-responds-to-the-status-of-voting-rights-legislation-and-the-build-back-better-act\/","title":{"rendered":"WE ACT for Environmental Justice Responds to the Status of Voting Rights Legislation and the Build Back Better Act"},"template":"","class_list":["post-3910","update","type-update","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_type-press-release","person_tax-dana-johnson"],"acf":{"details":{"":null,"featured_image":5221,"update_type":[366],"focus_area":false,"authors":[189],"abstract":""},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">January 21, 2021<\/span><br \/>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact: Dana Johnson, <\/span><a href=\"mailto:dana@weact.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dana@weact.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 917-885-3314<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>WE ACT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RESPONDS TO THE STATUS OF\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>VOTING RIGHTS LEGISLATION AND THE BUILD BACK BETTER ACT<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; This week President Biden and Members of Congress provided updates on the status of the Build Back Better Act and voter rights legislation. Dana Johnson, senior director of strategy and federal policy with WE ACT for Environmental Justice, responded with the following statement:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u2018There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.\u2019 &#8211; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., echo loudly in an environment where legislators in 49 states drafted more than 440 restrictive voting bills since the 2020 election. These words reverberate in an environment where, in 46 of 50 states, people of color have a higher pollution exposure burden than whites and Black people have the greatest exposure. These words resound in an environment where the racial gap in safe and affordable housing and transportation; quality education; family-sustaining jobs; and social support networks and resources is expanding at a rate that is detrimental to our collective future.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step to achieving environmental justice is to ensure that people living in communities of color and areas of low income can participate fully in the decision-making process for leadership at every level of government. We are calling upon Members of Congress to stop all of the politicking and to ensure that ALL Americans are able to engage in the democratic process of voting. We need to have comprehensive voter rights legislation such as the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, we call on Members of Congress and the Biden Administration to take bold action to right legacy wrongs and to create a more dynamic future for ALL Americans. This can be done through executive action and by passing an investment package that centers people, tackles the climate crisis and rights environmental injustices. If there\u2019s a need to make cuts to arrive at a more palatable Build Back Better Act, let\u2019s deprioritize spending taxpayer money on false climate change solutions that prolong our reliance on fossil fuels and do little to improve conditions in our communities.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-0-<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><b>WE ACT for Environmental Justice <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a Northern Manhattan membership-based organization<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and\/or<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">D.C. Visit us at <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">weact.org<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and follow us on <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\r\n","include_drop_cap":false}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WE ACT for Environmental Justice Responds to the Status of Voting Rights Legislation and the Build Back Better Act - WE ACT for Environmental Justice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/weact.org\/es\/updates\/we-act-for-environmental-justice-responds-to-the-status-of-voting-rights-legislation-and-the-build-back-better-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WE ACT for Environmental Justice Responds to the Status of Voting Rights Legislation and the Build Back Better Act - 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