Executive Director Dennis Parker: Reflections on the 2024 US Presidential Election
Like each of you, I have struggled to process the outcome of the election. Last night’s results create fear and anxiety for many of us, but especially people living in marginalized communities who have been targeted by Donald Trump’s extreme rhetoric and policy proposals.
We know that the future holds the promise of assaults on all the things that we hold dear. What is absolutely certain is that the people who will experience those impacts most harshly are the same ones who have always borne the brunt of discrimination and hatred and are the least situated to fight back. These are the people whose interest we serve in our work.
NCLEJ does this work because we believe that it is possible to build a just and fair society. Our mission continues, and our work now is more important than ever before.
In the wake of last night’s election results, NCLEJ reaffirms our commitment to advancing racial, economic, and disability justice for all people. We will continue to expand access to life-saving public benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, and childcare; protect low-wage workers rights’ and safety; advance the rights of people with disabilities; end unlawful debt collection; and combat racism in our policing, practices, and institutions. We stand ready to defend our clients and their communities from attacks unleashed by the federal government.
All of us are touched personally by the many threats unleashed by the far-right, but the NCLEJ team is equipped with tools to make a difference. We will move forward and onward, like the narrator of the Langston Hughes poem who keeps climbing the decrepit stairway in defiance of the difficulties.
We are all still climbing.
