NEW YORK – Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, issued the following statement in response to reports that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to fully repeal net neutrality today. Color Of Change was instrumental in pushing for the adoption of net neutrality by the FCC in 2015.
Rashad Robinson, Executive Director at Color Of Change:
“Chairman Pai’s plan to dismantle neutrality is an attack on twenty-first-century civil rights. Net neutrality is the foundation our free and open internet, which has been an indispensable tool for Black communities and others fighting for justice and civil rights. Net neutrality ensures that the Internet is a place for innovation and opportunity for all, allowing the voices and ideas of everyday Black folks to spread based on substance, rather than financial backing.
“By joining hands with the telecom industry to dismantle net neutrality, Chairman Pai and the entire Trump administration are colluding to transform our free and open internet into a pay-for-play scheme that will stifle the voices of everyday Americans. It is latest attack by President Trump and his corporate enablers on our most important freedoms. Congress still has the power to block Chairman Pai and the FCC from voting to destroy net neutrality. Key lawmakers are considering stepping up to do just that, but it’s up to all of us to push them over the edge. In the weeks ahead, it is critical for all of us to be calling our members of Congress to demand that they stop Pai and Trump’s attack on the internet.
####
Color Of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over one million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org/.