The HEROES Act looks to increase voting access, provide additional funding for state and local governments, help fund coronavirus testing and provide a new round of direct payments to Americans. The GOP-led Senate, however, has not taken up the bill, as Republicans have so far balked at the prospect at the $3 trillion price tag and the need for additional stimulus.
“Congress has starved state and local communities of the resources they need to run safely accessible elections. We can’t allow this in November. Our democracy can’t wait,” Knowles-Lawson writes.
“In passing this legislation, you will take an affirmative step toward declaring that Black lives matter. You will help build an America as good as its ideals. And you will lead the country — thanks to the creation of a more accountable democracy in which all Americans’ voices are heard.”
Several mothers whose children have factored prominently in the Black Lives Matter movement also signed the letter.
Gwenn Carr, the mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin; Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant; Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery; Rep. Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis; Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor; and Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland, all signed on.
The letter is also signed by a host of other celebrities, including Viola Davis and Halle Berry.