NEW YORK, NY – Color Of Change, the nation’s largest racial justice organization, issued the following statement after FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn announced she will be stepping down.

Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color Of Change:

“Commissioner Clyburn is a tremendous public servant and a pioneer in the telecommunications sector as the first woman and first Black woman to serve as an FCC commissioner, as well as the first woman to serve as the commission’s acting chairperson. As Commissioner Clyburn’s career has taken her to the highest levels of our government, she has remained fiercely committed to Black folks and low-income communities. A leader in the fight for net neutrality, the Lifeline program, and prison phone justice, she has stayed deeply connected to our communities, often participating in events such as Color Of Change’s forum for Black net neutrality activists in Atlanta last year.

History will remember that in the face of so many willing to sell out basic values of fairness and equity, Commissioner Clyburn stood strong and never forgot the communities often under attack by special interests willing to cut them out of the economies and technologies of the future. When the story is written of the champions who fought to protect open communication and as a result a more fairer democracy, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn name will be in bold print. We will miss her powerful leadership at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but we know that she will continue to be a champion for our communities.”