Thread by @AliVelshi

1/15
If one of us is chained, none of us are free. One of the earliest acts of civil disobedience in America was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. #velshi

2/15
The 56 men who put pen to paper accepted that there would be consequences for suspending their obligations to Great Britain, but they did so anyway. It made them criminals, though they preferred to be thought of as patriots. #velshi

3/15
That act of civil disobedience - breaking a law because it was unjust - led to the American Revolution, and from it, a democracy was born. Or was it? Because if one of us is chained, none of us are free. #velshi

4/15
The early drafts of the Constitution essentially awarded a full set of rights only to white men who owned land. Throughout America’s long, tortured history, women, black people and other marginalized groups have had to fight tooth and nail for equality. #velshi

5/15
Civil disobedience - refusing to comply with certain unjust laws as a form of peaceful protest - became one of the most powerful catalysts for change. #velshi

6/15
In 1966, gay men were refused service at bars. Three men walked into a New York City establishment. They announced that they were gay and asked for a drink. It became known as the Sip In. #velshi

7/15
Around 1965, thousands of young men across America burned their draft cards in rebellion against the War in Vietnam. #velshi

8/15
Rosa Parks knew perfectly well that she would be arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white man in 1955. She sat there anyway. John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. were arrested a combined 70 times during the civil rights movement. #velshi

9/15
Today, activists and lawmakers are willingly getting arrested to fight for voting rights. And the entire chamber of democratic state legislators in Texas have left the state to protest laws that would break our democracy in two. #velshi

10/15
Because, they realize, if one of us is chained, none of us are free. The chains are the restrictions on voting. Breaking them is democracy. Republicans across this nation are imposing restrictions on some Americans' right to vote. #velshi

11/15
It a right that is written into the Constitution - the 15th Amendment reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” #velshi

12/15
Here's the good part: "The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." Maybe you don’t live in a state that is actively suppressing your rights as outlined in the constitution, but you do live in THESE United States. #velshi

13/15
Maybe you personally have better access to voting and ballot boxes and mail in voting that those in Texas and Georgia will have. According to this, that's not their problem; it's EVERYBODY’S problem. A democracy is not a democracy as long as some people can’t vote. #velshi

14/15
If only one person in the United States is stripped of their rights, then we are not a democracy. Our union is not yet perfect. If one of us is chained, none of us are free. And that is why people are willing to get arrested. #velshi

15/15
It’s what John Lewis meant when he said, “get into good, NECESSARY trouble.” This is THE moment to protest. Loudly. And demand action. Because, if one of us is chained, none of us are free. #velshi