Refusing to be intimidated or forced into the shadows, Michael McCray and dozen's of other whistleblowers from across the country are speaking out and converged on Capitol Hill to convene the sixth annual Whistleblower Summit. McCray has a passion for justice, and is on a mission to speak out against corruption through the halls of the Nation's Capitol.
The ACORN 8 and the USDA Coalition
co-hosted this year's Whistleblower
Summit a Civil & Human Rights
Conference in Washington, DC. "Our
conference theme was "WoW" Obama?' We
were focusing on the Obama Administration's War on Whistleblowers; and federal
workforce violence, or Obama's War on Women at USDA."
Lawrance Lucas, President of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees states, "We will ask President Obama to promptly intervene and bring the long history of widespread discrimination to an end. We want USDA top officials held accountable, and the USDA Office of Civil Rights --administration and process-- put into receivership."
An initial organizer of Washington
Whistleblower's Week in 2006, McCray was one the chief organizers for the
Whistleblower Summit which took on Capitol Hill last week.
"We are very excited about this year's conference, because our coalitions have grown, and our partners are stronger. We are honored to present Senators Charles Grassley a perennial supporter of whistleblowers and Susan Collins the sponsor of the original Whistleblower Protection Act the prestigious Pillar Human Rights Award for their support of whistleblower rights first amendment advocates," concludes McCray.
Lawrence Lucas, Marcel Reid, Michael McCray present Pillar Human Rights Award to
(Image by W.E. Calbert Jr.) Details DMCA
The Opening Plenary took place in the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Room included a symbolic "Empty Chair" welcome ceremony (pioneered by Dr. James Murtagh, M.D.) honoring courageous whistleblowers who cannot be present due to retaliatory imprisonment, untimely death or increased prosecution under the Obama Administration.
Marcel Reid, Pacifica Board Member and ACORN Whistleblower adds, "We are proud to announce that MSNBC Host Dylan Ratigan had agreed to participate and that the PACIFICA Radio Network is committed to broadcast the historic event nationally."
Courtney Dillard, candidate for Georgia's Fourth Congressional District said, "We need more people to support the brave whistleblowers who to step up and speak out abut inequality and unfairness. We must stop mortgage and foreclosure fraud, and judicial corruption." Dillard attended this year's Washington Whistleblowers' Summit.
The conference included a press conference on the National
Mall took place in celebration of the 10th
Anniversary of the passage of the No FEAR Act, which was the first civil
rights legislation of the 21st century. "We will stand on the National
Mall in the shadows of Martin Luther King Jr. to continue the fight for civil
and human rights," said Marsha Coleman Adebayo, Co-chair of the No FEAR
Coalition, "We are here to present No FEAR Report Cards for the
worst federal agencies in terms of discrimination and retaliation."
"We are in the middle of a 13 year battle to enhance whistleblower protections. We were blocked by a cowardly secret Senate hold last year--but we not let that happen again," adds Tom Devine, Legal Director for the Government Accountability Project. "We are here to support increased legislative protections and to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, and we will bring it over the top with the Whistleblower Summit this year."
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