- Bernice Johnson Reagon, who made and still makes powerful music a crucial part of SNCC and the Freedom Movement
- Harry Belafonte, Activist/Performer
- Dolores Huerta, Labor Leader / Civil Rights Activist
- Gloria Steinem, founder of MS. Ma g azine
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Professor & Freedom Summer Participant
- Nelson Johnson, Activist/Organizer
- Shirley M. Sherrod, Former Georgia State Director of Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Danny Glover, Activist/Actor/Producer
- Mel White, Author and LGBT Activist
- Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, Justice Activist in New York City
- Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J . antiwar activist
- Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Council members decided to release the Declaration after both Republican and Democratic National Conventions, believing that following the presentations by elected officials, it would be important to offer individual citizens and community groups an opportunity to voice their concerns and demands. The NCOE members will invite community activists to be present at the press conferences to engage in a dialogue on the issues commented upon in the Declaration as well as other concerns that may be raised by those in attendance.
Recognizing that movement elders were continuing to play critical roles in human rights movements in the U.S., the founders had been considering organizing the Council for some time. Inspired by the determined calls for justice by the emerging Occupy movement, the Lawson brothers and Dr. Harding were moved to bring their vision to fruition.
Members of the NCOE will extend their support to Occupy and other younger generation activists while continuing their own civic engagement in arenas where they have worked for years. They are also committed to the documentation and archiving of their own movement experiences in order to leave a substantial, accessible legacy for the justice workers who will come after them.
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