The Leadership Conference Condemns Attacks on Civil Rights Movement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]
WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in reaction to news of another threat of legal intimidation against a member of the civil rights coalition, the Southern Poverty Law Center, as retaliation for doing the important work of protecting people from hate and discrimination:
“This administration uses racism, hate, and fear – openly and repeatedly – as tools of control. It pardoned January 6 insurrectionists, including people tied to white supremacist and paramilitary groups. It made Project 2025 policy. Civil rights protections are being gutted and weaponized against the communities they were intended to protect. Voters of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, women, workers, people with disabilities, and Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities are watching protections that took generations to win get rolled back at every level of government.
“We will not be intimidated, and we will not abandon our partners. A year ago, civil rights organizations representing millions of people across the country signed the Unity Pact, a commitment to stand together when any of us comes under attack. An attack on one is an attack on all.
“What is happening to civil rights organizations right now is the most coordinated assault on our sector since COINTELPRO. We are the people who train poll workers, run food banks, fight discrimination, protect the right to protest, and staff domestic violence hotlines. We are the ones who make sure that everyone can live, love, vote, work, study, travel and simply be themselves, free from discrimination. This administration views that as a threat to its power. In order to have absolute power, it must dismantle our rights. And that’s why they’re coming after us.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent decades doing that work, and we stand with them. We are calling on Congress to publicly defend the movement this administration is trying to silence. We are calling on legal and philanthropic leaders, on faith communities, and on every person who believes dissent is not a crime to say so, and to say so now. Silence in this moment is a choice.”
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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