Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement in response to reports that Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election included massive efforts against African Americans:
“These extraordinary revelations should be of the gravest concern to anyone who cares about the integrity of our elections and the health of our democracy. We now know that Black American voters must contend with both overwhelming domestic suppression efforts and foreign interference on a massive scale. These threats are not separate phenomena. They are closely related attempts to use race and racism in America to divide the electorate and subjugate Americans of color. For years, we have urged Congress and this Administration to investigate and address voter suppression targeting voters of color. Instead, the Trump Administration has chosen to pursue false allegations of in-person vote fraud. We urge the House Oversight Committee to investigate these revelations in the new year, so that we can begin to take the steps necessary to protect voting rights from the many assaults it now faces.”
