New York, NY – The following is a statement from ColorOfChange.org Executive Director Rashad Robinson:
“McDonald’s decision last month, as reported by The Huffington Post, is testament to the power that we have as consumers. We first began communications with McDonald’s in December. Now we know that the concerns we shared with them about ALEC’s role in pushing voter suppression and Kill at Will bills nationwide made the company’s decision-makers think deeply about whether supporting ALEC is a good use of their dollars and appropriate for their brand.
“Now McDonald’s joins Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods and Intuit on the list of companies that have decided in recent months to end membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council. As more corporations come to understand what they are supporting through membership in ALEC, they don’t want to be associated.
“We want to thank McDonald’s for making the right decision, and we want to thank ColorOfChange members and our partners.
“We continue to call on all major corporations to stop supporting voter suppression through ALEC. Our members and allied groups are prepared to hold accountable companies that continue to participate in ALEC’s attack on voting rights.”
Today, ColorOfChange members and partner organizations began calling on McDonald’s, State Farm and Johnson & Johnson to cut ties with ALEC, and calls to AT&T began earlier this week. Members of the coalition include Common Cause, People for the American Way, Progress Now, the Center for Media and Democracy, CREDO Action and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
The tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s death – and the law that has prevented his killer from being arrested – is another example of how ALEC’s agenda is dangerous for people of color. The NRA and ALEC exported Florida’s “stand your ground” law to more than 20 states across the country, jeopardizing the safety of Americans nationwide.
More than 85,000 CoC members signed an earlier petition targeting ALEC’s corporate partners for their role in suppressing Black votes. The petition can be found here: https://colorofchange.org/campaign/alec/
In addition, more than 170,000 CoC members have signed the petition calling on the Department of Justice to take over the Trayvon Martin case, arrest Martin’s killer, and launch an independent investigation into the Sanford police department’s mishandling of the case. The petition can be found here: https://colorofchange.org/campaign/trayvon/
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With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest African-American online civil rights organization.