The Trump Department of Justice is reportedly targeting the Southern Poverty Law Center over its work to document and expose extremist groups that pose a threat to Americans’ lives and civil rights. People For the American Way President Svante Myrick released the following statement in response:
Donald Trump and his corrupt Department of Justice are abusing the power of the federal government to wage war against American values and the people and organizations that stand up for them.
Generations of Americans fought to win civil rights protections for people who were long denied legal equality in our country. Together we worked to build a country where everyone has the freedom, opportunity, and ability to follow their dreams, free from our historical legacies of bigotry and discrimination.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration and the backward-looking MAGA movement are aggressively seeking to undermine those hard-fought victories and the vision of a diverse democratic society that fueled many movements for equality under law.
They have turned the Justice Department, once a powerful force for good, into a reactionary weapon for dismantling a century’s worth of progress. And they are attacking anyone who might get in their way, from dedicated public servants to powerful law firms to civil rights defenders like the Southern Poverty Law Center.
We affirm our commitment to the civil and human rights principles that have moved America closer to its promise. We affirm our solidarity with our colleagues in the struggle to make those promises real for every person.
People For the American Way is a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and joined other civil rights organizations last year in signing a commitment not to be intimidated into silence when any of our organizations is unjustly targeted.
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About People For the American Way:
People For the American Way is a national progressive advocacy organization that inspires and mobilizes Americans to defend freedom, justice, and democracy from those who threaten to take them away. For more than four decades, we have been dedicated to making the promise of American ideals real for everyone and have worked toward a vision of a vibrant America where basic rights and freedoms are upheld for all, not just the wealthy and the powerful. Learn more at peoplefor.org.
