February, 23 2021, 11:00pm EDT
ACLU Statement on Hearing About the Future of the Post Office
The White House and the Senate must prioritize filling the Postal Board of Governors vacancies.
WASHINGTON
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at 10 a.m. today about legislative reforms for the U.S. Postal Service. This morning, the ACLU launched a petition calling on President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to quickly fill the vacancies on the Postal Service board of governors. Those members must be committed to the Postal Service's role in bolstering democracy and racial equity.
Rakim Brooks, senior campaign strategist and systemic equality campaign manager at the ACLU, issued the following statement:
"A strong Postal Service is essential to American democracy. Around the country, people depend on the post office to send and receive mail, medications, and--as we saw dramatically last fall -- ballots. As banks have abandoned Black and minority neighborhoods and created 'banking deserts,' the post office stepped up to become the largest provider of paper money orders in the country. The post office has also played a central role providing mobility to the middle class for its workers, who are disproportionately Black people.
"Postmaster General DeJoy's policy decisions threaten to stifle the innovation and growth required to secure the Postal Service's financial future. The ACLU urges the White House and the Senate to prioritize filling the vacancies on the postal board of governors with people who are committed to the post office, to racial justice, and to innovation. For instance, by expanding the post office's financial functions from money orders to other low-cost financial services such as check cashing and money transfers, the Postal Service can help close the racial wealth gap and secure the post office's financial future. Investing in the post office in this way is key to preserving its important role in society for decades to come."
Board of Governors Chairman Ron Bloom, U.S. Postal Service Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb, American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein, and Quad/Graphics Chairman, President, and CEO Joel Quadracci will also provide testimony at the hearing.
The hearing will be online at 10 a.m. ET, here.
The ACLU's petition on filling the vacancies in the Postal Board of Governors is online, here.
This press release is online, here.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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Reports released this week from two organizations that advocate for journalists underscore just how deadly Gaza has become for media workers.
Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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