CWA Statement on NAACP Leader Ben Jealous

Washington, D.C. -- Following is a statement by CWA President Larry Cohen on the announcement that Ben Jealous is stepping down as President and CEO of the NAACP:

“Ben Jealous is a dynamic leader not only for the civil rights community but for all people determined to win true justice.

“His work at the NAACP has made that organization a powerful and leading voice for economic and social justice. And early on he realized that joining with other progressive groups was the best way to reach that goal.

“Under Jealous, the NAACP was one of four founding members of the Democracy Initiative, which is bringing together allies who share the determination to breaking through the barriers to justice for ordinary Americans: voter suppression, the pervasive influence of corporate money in politics, the broken Senate rules and the lack of a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants.

“CWA activists have joined with NAACP members and other allies in New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Alabama, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and in so many other places, standing together for what’s right: an end to the attack on voting rights, an end to corporate assaults on workers’ rights and to stop the corrosive flood of corporate money in politics. This is how we’ll fully build our democracy.   

“We’re proud to partner with Ben Jealous and know that he will continue the fight to justice for all in everything he does.”

Contact: Candice Johnson or Kendra Marr Chaikind, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, cjohnson@cwa-union.org and kmarr@cwa-union.org