We voted. The fight continues.

Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren emailed the following message to our supporters Wednesday:

We may have news at any moment, but I wanted to reflect on something important. We have witnessed record voter turnout despite a global pandemic, last minute robocalls telling people in key states not to vote, and calls to stop counting or to throw out the votes that people have already cast. As we move forward we should expect the centuries-long and fraught history of our electoral process to yet again threaten the democratic experiment. Our history shows that it is not our elections that are contested year after year, it is our democratic principles.

We will no doubt continue to hear the refrain of “voter fraud” as an excuse to jerry rig the systems we have in place. However, we must remember that “voter fraud” legislation since at least 1836 has had the primary purpose or effect of excluding Black, Indigenous, immigrant, or poor people from their right to vote. This presidential election, like the many that came before, makes clear that our political institutions are intentionally exclusive. Indeed our entire political system is not designed to reflect or protect popular democracy. It’s designed to undermine it.

While presidential fortunes rise and fall on the altar of the Electoral College, that altar was built first to supercharge slave-holding states and then to submerge the Black vote in those states up to and including on election day. As we move forward, take note of where our political system intentionally subverts the popular will, suppresses the vote of marginalized people, and operates to preserve unequal and white supremacist distribution of power and rights.

At the Center for Constitutional Rights, we are working with our allies to monitor the situation as it unfolds and see where help is needed. If there are protests and counter-protests, we will work to ensure that our people are safe and their voices heard.

While we demand a complete count of all votes cast, we should step back and ask this question: Is it possible for your candidate to win this election and also benefit from a system that reduces the power of the electorate that voted? Yes. Is it possible for us to fight alongside communities committed to building a rights-respecting and representative political system that is responsive to human needs? Yes. Tuesday we voted. Tomorrow we fight for those of us whose vote didn’t count.

Join us for Justice Takes A Fight: Working at the Center for Constitutional Rights

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Join the Northeast Region of the Black Law Students Association and the Center for Constitutional Rights as current and former Ella Baker interns and Bertha Justice Fellows offer an inside look at movement lawyering at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Webinar panelists include current Bertha Justice Fellow Samah Sisay, former Ella Baker interns James "JJ" Johnson and Jilisa Milton, and Bertha Justice fellow Chauniqua Young. The discussion will be moderated by Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren. The webinar is from 5:30–7 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 10, 2020. RSVP is required.

Register at our Zoom invitation.

Keynote: The 16th Annual National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair 2020

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Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, will provide advice and wisdom for aspiring Black lawyers during his keynote speech at the 16th Annual National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair 2020.

Happening virtually this year, the mission of the National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair is to provide a high-quality, comprehensive national event designed specifically for aspiring Black lawyers. Its purpose is to provide them with access to empowering information, resources, and contacts that will assist them in the challenging journey ahead in pursuing admission into law school, success in the law school experience and on the bar exam, and beyond.

Register for The National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair on its Eventbrite page.

NOW: Watch as the international community scrutinzes the U.S.'s human rights record

Today, November 9, 2020, United Nations (UN) member states are reviewing the United States’ human rights record as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. Every four years, states undergo an assessment of their compliance with and commitment to upholding human rights.

In October 2019, the Center for Constitutional Rights  prepared a formal submission to the UN Human Rights Council, and in the last year, we have been proud to work together with impacted people, grassroots organizers, and civil society to demand politically bold interventions of the international community. In these unprecedented times of global crises and interlocking pandemics - COVID-19, systemic anti-Black racism, rising authoritarian repression - we reaffirm the necessity of international vigilance and solidarity.

UNTV will live-stream the session at 8:30 a.m. ET (2:30 p.m. in Geneva).

For more information, please visit the US Human Rights Network’s website.