In some ways, 2021 feels worlds away from where we are now.
In others, it feels like it could have been yesterday. Or it could be tomorrow.
In 2021, we were emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. We’d elected a new president and our first-ever Black, Asian, and female vice president. The administration in power believed in women’s right to choose, LGBTQIA+ equality, racial justice, and environmental protections. There was so much at stake, but also so much hope.
At the same time, the seeds of our current Constitutional Crisis had been sown. Voter suppression was at a historic high. Across the states, bills restricting transgender rights, abortion rights, and other tenets of an equal democracy were arising. And of course, five years ago today, a group of violent insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol, attempting to overturn the results of the free and fair 2020 election. The act ended in several lives lost, dozens seriously injured, and a nation traumatized.
Reflecting on this tragic day in 2024, League President Dianna Wynn and I noted that January 6 was a reminder of “the sacredness of preserving democracy.” As we look ahead to a critical year for elections and advocacy, this reminder guides my every move.
We now know that what many activists had told us from the beginning was correct: 2021 wasn’t the end of democratic strife, but the beginning of one of the greatest ever threats to our democracy.
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