Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kraft Foods ... who's next ?
Here's the letter we'll send to the leadership of corporations that support ALEC, on your behalf. You can add a personal comment using the box to the right.
Dear President/CEO and Board,
I want to alert you to the fact that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – which your company funds – is pushing discriminatory voter ID legislation that suppresses the votes of blacks, the elderly, youth and other minorities. Bills based on ALEC’s model legislation have been introduced in 34 states, and have already passed in seven states.
Although proponents of voter ID laws claim the goal is to reduce voter fraud, there is no evidence that such fraud occurs with any regularity in this country. What is clear is that these voter ID laws unreasonably increase barriers to voting access for large numbers of people and could disenfranchise up to 5 million people across the nation. These laws are part of a long history of racist and discriminatory restrictions on voting designed to disenfranchise African Americans and other underrepresented groups.
I presume your company does not want to support voter suppression, nor have your products or services associated with discrimination and large-scale voter disenfranchisement. I urge you to immediately stop funding ALEC and issue a public statement making it clear that your company does not support discriminatory voter ID laws and voter suppression.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Take Action
ColorOfChange.org
NPR has taken notice of this new sweeping movement starting to take root ... this boulder being dislodged from the mountain top ...
Boycotts Hitting Group Behind 'Stand Your Ground'
by Peter Overby, NPR -- Apr 5, 2012
Two of America's best-known companies, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have dropped their memberships in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a low-profile conservative organization behind the national proliferation of "stand your ground" gun laws.
ALEC promotes business-friendly legislation in state capitols and drafts model bills for state legislatures to adopt. They range from little-noticed pro-business bills to more controversial measures, including voter-identification laws and stand your ground laws based on the Florida statute. About two-dozen states now have such laws.
[...]
Opposition To Voter ID Laws
Coca-Cola's announcement came hours after a civil rights group, ColorOfChange.org, launched an online drive calling on Coca-Cola to stop underwriting the ALEC agenda on voter ID laws in several states.
It's part of a much broader campaign to spotlight companies that sell products to a public that might object to hard-line conservative policies such as stand your ground laws or requirements that voters show a photo ID at the polls.
Some civil rights groups say voter ID laws are discriminatory and suppress minority voter turnout.
[...]
Here is the prime mover in this call for Justice and Equal Rights
for ALL people ...
Prominent National Organizations Urge ALEC to Disavow Lethal Law after Murder of Florida Teen - Will Deliver Demand Letter to DC Headquarters
ColorOfChange.org -- March 28, 2012
[...]
Organizing sponsors include the National Urban League, NAACP, ColorOfChange, Moveon.org, AFL-CIO, SEIU, ProgressNow, Center for Media and Democracy/ALECexposed.org, Presente, Public Campaign, Common Cause, People For the American Way, UltraViolet, Faith in Public Life, National Council of Churches, USAction, and more.
ISSUE: The Florida "Kill at Will" law is being used to justify the killing of Trayvon Martin - an unarmed African American 17-year-old - and may prevent the successful prosecution of his shooter. Since the NRA wrote this law into Florida's books in 2005, the "justifiable homicide" rate there has jumped 300%.
[...]
Isn't people-powered social-media something?
Finally the people are finding our voice. Speak up. Speak out.
Stand up, against the madness; against the status quo inequity and injustice.
It is still your right, as Americans. For how much longer ... only time will tell.
Take Action
ColorOfChange.org
Take a Stand ... stand your own ground.