Tina Knowles-Lawson pens open letter to Congress urging for passing of HEROES Act
Passing the HEROES Act would finance absentee voting and make voting more accessible and safe.
Tina Knowles-Lawson, mother to Beyoncé and Solange, is urging Congress to pass the HEROES Act, a bill that would fund absentee voting and make voting more accessible to Americans across the country.
Knowles-Lawson, along with the Mothers of The Movement and other Black female celebrities, have penned a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“This past month has culminated in a moment of reckoning for the country. As members of the Black community, we are hurting, we are angry and we are anguished by the repeated assaults on Black bodies, brought to light once again by the recent murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of what has for too long been incorrectly coined ‘justice,’” the letter reads. “But, even in this moment, when we feel despair and deep exhaustion, we remember one essential truth: our voices have power.”
The letter also places a great amount of significance on the need for minority voters to be able to exercise their right to vote safely. The women also talk about the rising COVID-19 cases in states following their primary elections and states such as Kentucky and Georgia that have shown examples of voter supression.
“Fall-out from the most recent primaries makes it abundantly clear that we must act now to ensure every citizen can freely and fairly vote in the upcoming general election, and chaos at polling places in recent primaries has demonstrated that elections officials are unprepared to hold safe and accessible elections this year,” the letter continues.
“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,” the note concludes.
The letter was then signed by Knowles-Lawson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Beyoncé, Solange, Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, Kelly Rowland, Gwenn Carr (mother of Eric Garner), Sybrina Fulton (mother of Trayvon Martin), Representative Lucy McBath (mother of Jordan Davis), Geneva Reed-Veal (mother of Sandra Bland), Tamika Palmer (mother of Breonna Taylor) and many more women.