VOTING & CIVIL RIGHTS:

SECULAR, LABOR & RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the case of Shelby County v. Holder, in which the Court ruled that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act (which requires certain states and localities with a history of discrimination to seek pre-clearance prior to changing voting laws or practices) no longer applies. The elimination of criteria for pre-clearance review effectively invalidated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, allowing states to enact without any review laws that are reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.  Since this decision, “block the vote” legislation has proliferated throughout the US, not only in those states which previously required pre-clearance. This decision can potentially decide the fate of the next two national elections.

In November of 2016, the Presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives will be at stake. The following Supreme Court decisions will be at the center of many debates in the upcoming national elections from 2014 to 2016:

• Shelby County v. Holder (2013): Eliminated section four of the Voting Rights Act to drastically diminish voting rights in the United States, allowing a wave of voter suppression laws in states that formerly needed permission from the federal government for any new legislation related to voting.
• Harris v. Quinn  (2014): Prohibited a union from collecting fees from a particular class of public employees who did not want to join the union. This decision suggests that the Court may start to take steps toward nationalizing “right to work” as it operates in most southern states, by embedding it in Constitutional law.
• Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014): Diminished states’ ability to legislate Affirmative Action programs.
• Burwell Secretary of Health and Human Resources Services v. Hobby Lobby (2014):  Provided most corporations the right to deny women health coverage that includes contraception.
• Citizens United v. FEC (2012): Provided corporations the right to fund political campaigns as “persons” without limit or any type of disclosure concerning such funds, placing minority, working class and poor voters at a tremendous electoral and political disadvantage.

Without a doubt, the crosshairs of these court actions are focused on African Americans, Latinos, women, the working class and poor whites.  The political power of each of these communities, now under siege, has increased dramatically since the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965). Therefore, all groups share the imperative to join together to educate, prevent and take action against court decisions and legislation that will prevent them from exercising their fundamental civil rights, particularly their right to vote the lack of humane immigration policy in the United States.

The accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement in the US depended greatly on the support of the African American theology and churches, along with the support of secular groups such as labor and civil rights organizations.  As we speak, active congregations of Latino churches are prolific throughout the US, with members who are the object of intense discrimination while simultaneously representing the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation, with a strong voting power in key states, particularly in Presidential elections.

Plan: Since the Constitutional protections of minority, poor and working class people have been debilitated in recent years, a dynamic dialogue must be initiated between the religious, secular and labor sectors of Asian, African American and Latino communities to create a joint strategy to prevent the further weakening of Civil and Human Rights in the US and the potential effects of modern day Jim Crow laws.

Therefore, the Latino Leadership Institute is sponsoring a Voting & Civil Rights Conference, to be called and lead by secular, religious, and labor leaders.

Main Speaker:  

Reverend Dr. William Barber, President, North Carolina NAACP and President, Moral Monday (Confirmed).

Panel:

Opening:  Jaime Estades, Esq., President, Latino Leadership Institute, Inc.

Moderator: Jerry H. Golfeder, Esq., Special Counsel, Stroock Stroock & Lavan LLP (Confirmed)

Craig Becker, General Counsel, AFL-CIO (Confirmed)

Juan Cartagena, Esq., President, Latino Justice PRLDEF (Confirmed)

Rev. Gabriel Salguero, President, National Latino Evangelical Coalition (Confirmed)

Ana Oliviera, President & CEO, The New York Women’s Foundation (Confirmed)

The Latino Leadership Institute, in conjunction with the African American, Asian and White progressive communities, as well as the religious, civil rights, labor and other nonpartisan organizations will gather in this conference in order to begin dialogue to find common ground to take action as we face Presidential election of 2016 as well as to create a New York City advocacy coalition comprised of all of these sectors.

The event will be co-sponsored by Union Theological Seminary and the Church and Society Program at Union Theological Seminary and endorsed by a number of labor and religious institutions, which will be named in the flyer to be distributed soon.

The event will take place at Union Theological Seminary on December 11 at 6pm (3041 Broadway at West 121stStreet, New York, NY 10027). For more information, contact latinoleadershipinstitute@gmail.com