From Advancement Project to Free Press, progressive organizations vow to stand up, speak out—and litigate

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

Progressive organizations across the U.S. are joining together in the latest showing of widespread resistance to President-elect Donald Trump’s right-wing agenda, from climate policies to civil rights.

Dozens of groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, United We Dream, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, on Tuesday launched a campaign called United Resistance, pledging to “stand together in support of racial, social, environmental, economic justice for all, and against Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, homophobia, sexism, and all those forces which would tear apart a democracy of, by, and for all the people.”

“We pledge to take action to support one another, to be accountable to one another, and to act together in solidarity, whether in the streets, in the halls of power, or in our communities every day, the groups state. “When they come for one, they come for us all.”

In a video accompanying the campaign’s launch, members of the organizations outline their call for collective action and litigation in the face of threats to civil and human rights.

“We are putting the new administration on notice: every day of the next four years, be prepared to confront powerful organized communities who refuse to be silenced.”
—Judith Browne Dianis,
Advancement Project

“We are facing fascism right now,” says Eveline Shen, executive director of the advocacy group Forward Together.

Cornell Brooks, president of the NAACP, continues, “We have to affirm our common citizenship, and more importantly, our common humanity.”

Watch below:

The campaign, which follows several other recent efforts to resist Trump and the Republican Party, comes as Congress kicks off its cabinet confirmation hearings with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), whose nomination to serve as attorney general has sparked widespread outcry over his racist, sexist, and homophobic track record.

“As the chief law enforcement officer, the attorney generally has far-reaching decision making power over issues that impact every person in the U.S.” Forward Together policy director Kalpana Krishnamurthy said Tuesday. “He has a track record of disregarding civil rights, denying racism, and promoting a radical agenda that would undo many of the laws that have given voice to communities of color historically shut out of our democracy. His values don’t reflect an America where all people can thrive and we are united in opposition to his nomination.”

Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the advocacy group Advancement Project’s national office, added, “The blueprint for failure is division and ambivalence in the wake of a united conservative agenda that is intentionally undermining our democracy and threatening our communities. Our power to resist and reclaim our democracy is rooted in our shared commitment to dismantling interwoven systems of oppression. We are putting the new administration on notice: every day of the next four years, be prepared to confront powerful organized communities who refuse to be silenced.”

Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, said, “It’s time to get back to the basics: everyday people with a plan, through everyday acts of courage, will eventually make history.”
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