WASHINGTON – As we enter the second week of Congressional hearings on President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees, Minister Leslie Watson Malachi, director of People For the American Way’s African American Ministers In Action, released the following statement:

“Across the board, Trump’s Cabinet nominees—whose records stand in opposition to the work of the agencies they are being asked to lead—pose a grave threat to the rights, health, opportunities, and wellbeing of the communities we serve as faith leaders.

“We have a nominee for attorney general who has prosecuted African American voting rights advocates and demonstrated a clear hostility to civil rights throughout his career. We have a nominee for labor secretary whose businesses are reportedly rife with harassment, with survey data showing that two-thirds of female employees at his restaurants experience sexual harassment on the job. We have an education secretary nominee who has worked to undermine public schools—schools which serve as the heart of many communities across the nation. These nominees are profoundly out of touch with the people most directly affected by the work of their respective agencies.

“As faith leaders, we are committed to pursuing justice, healing the wounds of our country, and supporting those who are most vulnerable. In this moment in history, that means opposing those who support an agenda that could undermine basic rights and opportunities, including the right to cast a vote in our elections, to access quality public education, and to make a living without being subject to degrading harassment.

“We stand in opposition to these nominees and the threat to civil rights and constitutional values that they represent.”

People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.

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