 That was representative Jamal Bowman of New York getting arrested alongside more than two dozen Protesters who were fighting for voting rights outside of the US Capitol and that right there is what true solidarity looks like That is what leadership looks like Jamal Bowman and the House of Representatives. They did their part. They passed voting rights legislation So he doesn't actually have to do this, but he's there because he cares He's there because he knows the gravity of the situation He knows how important voting rights is Imagine if we had a president of the United States who cared that much about voting rights to actually go out of his way to get arrested And I know what you're thinking sure. This is just political theater It's not actually going to get voting rights codified into law and Jamal Bowman knows that but sometimes political theater is an effective tool That lawmakers can use to exert pressure on their colleagues and Jamal Bowman is doing everything that he possibly can that's evident to get this done Now for more details we go to common dreams as Andrea Germanos who explains Democratic congressman Jamal Bowman of New York drew praise Thursday for standing with the people after being arrested Outside the US Capitol for taking part in the voting rights protests breaking news tweeted the sunrise movement Fighting for voting rights is an arrestable action. Why is this the length? He has to go the climate group added in a later tweet Bowman had joined a voting rights nonviolent direct action at the North Barricade of the US Capitol building and was arrested by the US Capitol Police according to a statement from Marcus Frias communications director for the congressman the Capitol police said they made a total of 28 arrests After demonstrators blocked one side of the North Barricade just before noon Bowman's arrest came a day after he joined for several hours a group of hunger strikers outside the Senate as they engaged in an ongoing Effort to save our democracy from restrictive voting laws that harm working Americans So yeah Jamal Bowman deserves all the credit in the world for this This is really important Imagine if members of the Senate actually held a sit-in at the Capitol to exert pressure on their colleagues like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema I don't know if that would move them probably not but at least it would draw attention To this issue at least it would show the American people that they're fighting and they're doing everything that they possibly can do now Certainly the onus is primarily on Joe Biden to get members of his party to go along with this agenda given how important it is But still there are things that you can do to demonstrate that you care, but odds are when it comes to the Senate I think that a lot of Democrats like John Taster for example They kind of agree with Manchin and Sinema and they just like kind of hiding behind them They can vote for voting rights knowing that it won't actually get passed because two of their colleagues are Holding it up, but I mean if you really press them on a lot of these issues They probably wouldn't support it, but I mean you can't say that for sure right? This is speculative, but all I know is that right now There are two members of the Senate who are blocking this and every single thing that we can do must be done to exert pressure on them Now prior to his arrest Jim all bum and tweeted out Our democracy is on the line and the Senate must act and pass voting rights immediately We're outside the Senate steps sounding the alarm now We added these are the 33 bills passed in 19 states throughout 2021 that restrict voting rights There was a battle for the ballot box and we can't watch it from the sidelines Organizers did their jobs now. It's time for the Senate to do its job and he is absolutely correct about that now Expectedly Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin killed voting rights for a second time this month Nobody is surprised by this So that's why efforts like this to exert pressure on them and draw attention to the issue of voting rights are really important But Kyrsten Sinema was reportedly very enthusiastic about killing voting rights a second time So as Brian Tyler Cohen tweets Kyrsten Sinema just loudly stood up and enthusiastically yelled I to vote with Republicans to allow them to kill voting rights So imagine being such a bad person that you're not only obstructing your own party's agenda But you are gleefully and enthusiastically killing voting rights. I Mean these people genuinely don't have any concerns whatsoever about authoritarianism these people see Donald Trump's big lie and How right-wingers storm the Capitol they see this voter suppression effort that's taking place nationwide and they just don't care No matter how bad it gets no matter how authoritarian the GOP becomes they don't care and They're Democrats apparently Well, I mean with Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin who needs Republicans, right? It's just it is demoralizing, but I don't want you to get demoralized I want you to use your anger to fuel further direct action To fuel phone calls to the offices of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin and thankfully to leave you with a little bit of Opium we have people like Jamal Bowman on our side fighting when we didn't have this a couple of years ago I mean think back to 2015 2014 2013 really the only one who would stand up was Bernie Sanders That's it, but now we have a number of people we should have to leave Ilhan Omar Jamal Bowman in Congress Fighting and doing more than just advocating for and voting for good legislation But they're actually leading the charge by standing in solidarity with people This is new at least in this political era and it's really important to see so when I see instances like this where members of Congress Go out of their way to stand in solidarity with protesters. I Can't not highlight this and give him credit for it because this is something that you love to see and hope to see more of So I like that he's doing this I hope that other lawmakers join in with him and I certainly hope that members of the Senate do the same thing Not just joint sit-ins maybe lead them at the Capitol in the Senate Do something to draw attention to this issue because if voting rights is not passed then I just I don't know what to say Democracy is already barely hanging on by a thread But if we allow Republicans to straight up suppress the will of the people Suppress votes and on top of that subvert elections by taking away power from precinct So that way they can possibly send rogue electors to the Electoral College To change how people in their state voted. I mean, we just can't put that cat back in the bag What Trump did was irreparable harm to our democracy and voting rights It's the bare minimum that you can do to address this But if Democrats can't get this done then I don't even want to think about what's to come in the following years So good on Jamal Bowman. I really hope that others you know follow his lead here and join with protesters Who are fighting for something that is very important