Leadership Conference on Civil Rights 1629 K Street, NW 10 th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006 Phone: 202-466-3311 Fax: 202-466-3435 www.civilrights.org OFFICERS Remarks of Wade Henderson CHAIRPERSON Dorothy I. Height National Council of Negro Women VICE CHAIRPERSONS President of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Judith L. Lichtman National Partnership for Women & Families Karen K. Narasaki at the Asian American Justice Center William L. Taylor Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights Second United Nations Forum on Minority Issues TREASURER Gerald W. McEntee AFSCME EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Geneva, Switzerland Barbara Arnwine Lawyers’ Committee For Civil Rights Under Law Arlene Holt Baker November 12, 2009 AFL-CIO Ron Gettelfinger International Union, United Automobile Workers of America Marcia Greenberger National Women’s Law Center Linda D. Hallman American Association of University Women Andrew J. Imparato American Association of People with Disabilities Benjamin Jealous NAACP Good afternoon. Thank you, Madam Chair for this opportunity to present the views of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights1at this second United Nations Forum on Jacqueline Johnson National Congress of American Indians Michael B. Keegan People For the American Way Minority Issues. I am Wade Henderson, President and CEO of the Leadership Floyd Mori Japanese American Citizens League Marc H. Morial National Urban League Conference. The Leadership Conference is the oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and Janet Murguia National Council of La Raza Debra Ness National Partnership for Women and Families human rights coalition in the United States.2 I am also the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Professor Mary Rose Oakar American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Public Interest Law at the David A. Clarke School of Law, University of the District of Terry O’Neill National Organization for Women John Payton NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. Columbia. I am privileged to represent here today significant elements of the civil and Barry Rand AARP Dennis Van Roekel human rights community of the United States to discuss issues at the core of the National Education Association Anthony Romero American Civil Liberties Union Thomas A. Saenz international human rights movement and which have a particular impact on the rights of Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund David Saperstein Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism my country’s increasingly diverse racial and ethnic minority populations. Shanna L. Smith National Fair Housing Alliance Joe Solmonese Human Rights Campaign Andrew L. Stern Service Employees International Union Randi Weingarten American Federation of Teachers Mary G. Wilson League of Women Voters COMPLIANCE/ENFORCEMENT COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON Karen K. Narasaki Asian American Justice Center PRESIDENT & CEO Wade J. Henderson 1 The Honorable Barbara Lee (D.CA), United States of America, served as the Chair of these proceedings. The Lead ership Conference was founded in 1950 by three giants of the civil and human rights movement In the United States: Roy Wilkins, President of the NAACP; Arnold Aronson, a leader of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council; and A. Phillip Randolph, founding President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. 2