Solidarity with the Poor People’s Campaign mobilization 

Last week, in support of the launch of a mass mobilization by the Poor People’s Campaign on March 2, we issued the following statement:

We stand in solidarity with the Poor People’s Campaign in Mississippi – the strategic hub of our Southern Justice Rising initiative – and across the nation, as thousands of low-wage workers mobilize to abolish poverty. Without a living wage, voting rights, and the fundamental human rights that every human should have, poor and low-wage people in this country have suffered injustices and indignities at the hands of local and state governments that have further criminalized their existence.

Our commitment to demanding justice for all extends from Jackson, Mississippi, where, for decades, poor and Black communities have been denied even the most basic of fundamental rights –  including clean drinking water. On March 2, as low-wage workers descend on over 30 state capitals across the country, including in Jackson, we will hold the banner in solidarity to demand real policy change that ensures a living wage, healthcare for all, environmental justice, and respect for our fundamental human rights.

Read the statement on our website. 

Our message to Atlanta elected officials: protect democratic processes 

Last week, we sent a joint letter with the Legal Defense Fund and the Southern Center for Human Rights to the Atlanta City Council and mayor expressing our deep concern about barriers to Atlanta residents exercising their lawful right to engage in a local political process–namely, the right to petition the city government for a referendum on the “Cop City” project. 

Relatedly, we expressed alarm at the recent legislation introduced in the Georgia State Legislature that appears to target the activism and First Amendment expressions regarding Cop City. 

We call upon these Atlanta public officials to lead by example and protect and strengthen opportunities for the public to participate in democratic processes. 

You can read the letter on our website. For additional background, check our Stop Cop City resource page. 

Report back: Freedom Flicks 2024 season kicked off with “How to Sue the Klan” 

Last week, we kicked off our 2024 season of Freedom Flicks with the documentary How to Sue the Klan. This film tells the story of how five Black women from Chattanooga, Tennessee, used legal ingenuity to take on the Ku Klux Klan in a historic civil case we filed in 1982. 

The film was followed by an important conversation discussing the legacy of the case, Crumsey v. Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The panel included the group pictured here, Left to Right, former Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys Randolph M. McLaughlin and Betty Lawrence Lewis, filmmaker John Beder, Executive Director Vincent Warren, and Associate Director of the Southern Regional Office Emily Early.

To learn more about How to Sue the Klan, visit the film’s website. 

From New York to Ghana to Oklahoma: we reject attacks on LGBTQI+ people  

We condemn and reject the coordinated, global right-wing strategy to gain power through attacks on LGBTQI+ people. In particular, trans people, and youth in particular, are cynically being used as a strategic wedge by right-wing politicians to further entrench political power through fear and scapegoating. 

Ghana passed a bill further criminalizing LGBTQI+ identification. The bill mandates a prison sentence of up to three years for identifying as LGBTQI+ and five years for forming or funding LGBTQI+ groups. As in Uganda and Kenya, LGBTQI+ status was first criminalized in Ghana under British colonial law. This bill is part of an organized, decades-long effort influenced by anti-gay extremists, many from the U.S., to intensify persecution. As our client Frank Mugisha reminds us, it is Western homophobia that is un-African, not LGBTQI+ people. View our full statement on Instagram. 

Officials in Nassau County, Long Island, recently issued an executive order that bars trans girls from competitive sports, part of a dangerous wave of anti-trans laws nationwide. More than 20 states have passed bills undermining the rights of trans youth to use restrooms, participate in sports, or access life-saving healthcare. View our full statement on Instagram.

The deadly result of this anti-trans agenda is apparent. We honor the life of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old 2STGNC+ (Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender non-conforming+), Indigenous Choctaw student, who was brutally assaulted in the bathroom at Owasso High School and died the next day. Nex’s death comes at a time when politicians—including Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent—have pushed bills and policies that target and impact transgender, nonbinary, intersex and gender expansive youth. We joined 350+ organizations in a letter requesting Oklahoma officials investigate the Oklahoma Department of Education and remove Walters. Read the full letter on GLAAD’s website. 

We’re hiring: Staff Attorney, Southern Regional Office 

We’re excited to announce a new position, Staff Attorney, Southern Regional Office. Our Southern Regional Office represents the hub of our Southern Justice Rising Initiative, which is the next critical step in our decades-long support of frontline, grassroots social justice movements taking on the most challenging issues of our time. This initiative reflects the urgent need to strengthen, support, and help build the power of Southern regional movements to fight white supremacy and other forms of oppressive power. 

Southern Justice Rising draws on our historical roots in the Deep South and thus represents our deepened, renewed institutional commitment to liberatory movements in the South. 

This individual must live and work in the South (particularly Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, or Louisiana), with periodic onsite visits to our headquarters in New York City. 

Read the full job description on our website. Candidates should submit an online application.