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"My name is Dennis Parker. And I'm the director of the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU.
I'm here to talk about the relationship between the economic stimulus package and racial justice.
We see in our work that despite the election of an African American president that race
stills determines too much about who gets access to what in American society. It's important
when trying to address the overall economic situation that the plight of communities of
color be considered specifically. Although people believe that the law does not permit
race to be taken into account by government agencies. In fact, that is not correct. One
of the things that we've prepared for this website is a memorandum which shows the ways
that a state or local or federal government can take race into consideration. In a way
that benefits everyone, but assures that no one is left behind because of their race or
their ethnicity. We urge you to look carefully at this section of the website. To look at
ways that race neutral measures can be taken that still benefit our communities of color
and when that fails to look in ways then a program can be created that considers race
explicitly but does it in a way that is fair to everyone, but benefits everyone. The failure
to do that now is the loss of an opportunity that we may not have again and for a very
very long time. We urge that the country look frankly at the issue of race in the United
States. Look to see what is available in terms of remedying the economic problems of all
Americans and take steps to make this a country where everyone has a seat at the table." Learn
more. Do more. aclu.org/racialjustice