The Leadership Conference Statement on the Passing of President Jimmy Carter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McNeil, [email protected] 

WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the passing of President Jimmy Carter:

“President Jimmy Carter served the United States with distinction and powerfully demonstrated his commitment to civil and human rights. He was a friend to The Leadership Conference, to the civil rights community, and to all in America who are working to build a nation as good in practice as it is in promise. In January 1980, when President Carter attended the 30th annual meeting of The Leadership Conference, our then-chairman Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. called President Carter ‘one of the finest people this country has ever had at the helm of the government.’ He was right.

“As president, Jimmy Carter recognized the devastating lack of representation in our federal courts and prioritized diversifying the judiciary — appointing more women and people of color than all previous presidents combined. This included the first Black woman appellate court judge in our nation’s history and a number of iconic civil rights lawyers nominated to serve in lifetime judgeships.

“President Carter took federal civil rights enforcement seriously, appointing a civil rights lawyer to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and nominating Eleanor Holmes Norton to be the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He also appointed civil rights legend Andrew Young to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — the first Black person confirmed to this position. And he appointed Dr. Mary Frances Berry to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights after her service as assistant secretary for education. President Carter signed landmark civil rights legislation, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and he signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — a critical women’s rights treaty that still awaits ratification by the U.S. Senate. He advocated for and signed legislation creating the Department of Education, launched the Black College Initiative to give HBCUs more federal support, and was a strong supporter of affirmative action policies, including in federal hiring. President Carter also posthumously awarded Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“When President Carter was inaugurated as the governor of Georgia in 1971, he forcefully remarked: ‘I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over.’ More than five decades later, our nation must remember and celebrate his commitment to racial equality, his civil rights legacy, and his recognition of the dignity and humanity of all people. Our thoughts are with his family and all who benefited from his tremendous leadership. Today’s elected officials would do well to honor his memory and work to advance the civil and human rights that President Carter dedicated his life to defending.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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