Yesterday, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF) joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and over 100 other organizations in a letter to Congress outlining key health and economic security priorities for lawmakers to consider as they continue to respond to COVID-19.
“This pandemic calls for the enactment of policies and sufficient funding to protect low- and moderate-income people from economic disaster and to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable people in our nation. Communities that have already been marginalized by structural barriers to equal opportunities and who have low levels of wealth are particularly vulnerable during this current emergency. While many working people have been sidelined, many others are still providing essential services during the crisis – working at our grocery stores, delivering mail and packages, and providing care to vulnerable people – putting their lives at risk, often at reduced hours and wages, to keep our country running. The ongoing crisis has laid bare the structural racism and barriers to opportunity that are entrenched in our society, and our collective actions now must not worsen them.
Our key principles and specific policy proposals, detailed in the attached letter, fall into the following areas:
I. Overarching principles for coronavirus response
II. Ensuring access to quality health care for all people in America, including targeted
relief for those most impacted
III. Protecting the livelihoods of the most vulnerable working people in our nation
IV. Keeping people in homes, safeguarding their financial health, and protecting people
who are homeless
V. Providing assistance with basic living standards
VI. Stimulating the economy and investing in our future”
Read the full letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
