Media & Resources

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and All Voting is Local, with its joint And Still I Vote℠ campaign, will hold multiple events this week as part of the And Still I Vote℠ Week of Action, a call to mobilize voters and urge the Senate to pass the HEROES Act to ensure officials across the country have the vital resources to ensure fair, safe, and accessible elections in 2020, especially for voters of color. These activities are part of Turn Up Tuesdays, a weekly national call to action to ensure people are informed and activated to vote in November.

Donald Trump and the Senate are completely out touch with the nation’s real needs.

Our response to COVID-19 and structural racism, along with a looming election, define who we are as a nation. The American people are in the streets meeting this unprecedented moment to call for justice. Meanwhile, many of our nation’s leaders are failing to act.

WASHINGTON – On Monday, June 22, at 12:00 p.m. ET, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and civil rights advocates will host a press call to oppose Cory Wilson’s nomination to the Fifth Circuit ahead of his scheduled Senate cloture vote that afternoon. The full Senate is expected to vote on his confirmation later in the week. The speakers will underscore how nominations like Wilson’s further entrench injustice and how judges play a significant role in our justice system for decades to come.

WASHINGTON – Alongside civil rights leaders, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission today outlined in Essence why the nation’s leadership must enact a robust plan to address the digital divide exacerbated by COVID-19. Vanita Gupta, president and CEO at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Geoffrey Starks, FCC commissioner, Reverend Al Sharpton, Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, and Maurita Coley, president and CEO of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, address how lack of access to broadband excludes communities, especially those of color, from vital resources such as educational and telemedicine programs, as well as employment opportunities.

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act, allowing the program to remain in place:

“The calls for justice could not be clearer: our leaders must respond to the killing of Black people by police officers and the devastating disproportionate impact COVID-19 has on communities of color. Leader McConnell is not only ignoring these calls, he is doubling down on his effort to entrench his agenda to roll back hard-fought civil rights progress. McConnell is insisting the Senate install his friend, Justin Walker, to a seat on the important D.C. Circuit. His urgency in doing this is fake – he is rushing to fill a lifetime seat that does not become vacant for months.

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the introduction of the Senate Republican policing “reform” legislation, the JUSTICE Act:

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, will call on Congress to bring about transformative policy solutions that promote accountability, reimagine public safety, and respect the dignity of all people. In particular, Gupta points to proposals in the New Era of Public Safety report and Vision for Justice platform that would help build trust between communities and law enforcement, restore confidence, and reimagine a new paradigm of policing. Gupta previously served as the head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.