The Leadership Conference Applauds Senator Booker’s Historic Speech, Calls for Continued Action to Protect Civil Rights and Democracy

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 after Senator Cory Booker delivered the longest floor speech in Senate history:

“Senator Booker’s historic floor speech wasn’t just remarkable for its length. For more than 25 hours, he demanded the nation’s attention, spoke truth to power about the cruelty of this administration, and issued a clarion call to both his colleagues in Congress and the American people to show up for our country and democracy. Senator Booker showed up and stood up, and in doing so he tore down a record previously held by a segregationist whose speech nearly 70 years ago was in opposition to the first civil rights law since Reconstruction: the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Leadership Conference coalition fought to secure passage of that law so that more people could vote, so that more people would be protected against discrimination, and so that more people like Cory Booker could one day serve this nation and lead with the moral clarity and love of country he demonstrated this week. We thank Senator Booker for focusing the nation on the anti-democratic and anti-civil rights destruction being unleashed by this administration, and we urge further action by our leaders to halt this agenda of hate and exclusion and to defend and protect fundamental rights and freedoms. And as Trump installs loyalists like Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon into civil rights enforcement positions where they threaten injustice, we must all be loyalists to America’s ideals of justice and equality and join Senator Booker in saying that we all deserve better of our government. We must not relent. It’s going to take all of us to show up, demand better, and save democracy — and we must do it together.”

The Leadership Conference urges people to take our pledge to defend rights and freedoms by taking specific actions, including speaking up, attending protests, contacting elected officials, supporting civil rights organizations, and sharing information about these threats.

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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