Civil Rights
Summary of Position
Today, our country faces the most pressing call for racial justice since the 1960s. Having spent more than 30 years in public service fighting for equal treatment and protection for all, Congressman DeSaulnier is passionate about meeting this call with the boldness and urgency it demands. In Congress, he is at the forefront in the fight for equality, embracing the belief that no one is equal until everyone is equal.
By the Numbers
- An African American person is five times more likely to be stopped by law enforcement without just cause than a white person.
- State legislators introduced more than 500 anti-LGBT bills across 41 states and Puerto Rico in 2024.
- 7.5 million, or 15% of all public school students, receive special education services.
- Only 22.5% of people with disabilities were employed in 2023, compared to 65.7% of people without disabilities and down from 50% when the ADA took effect in 1991.
- In the latest Census, Contra Costa County was 44% White, 27% Hispanic, and 9.8% African American.
Things to Know
- Member of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus
- Member of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus
- 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign Congressional Scorecard
- Led Conversation on Race town halls with Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman and current Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass to discuss racial injustice and inequity, and created a national template for other Members of Congress to host these events in their communities
Working for You
Champion for the Port Chicago 50:
On July 17, 1944, a ship loaded with weapons exploded at Port Chicago in Richmond, CA killing or wounding 710 people, 435 of whom were African American. When the surviving African American sailors refused to return to work under the same unsafe conditions, 50 were convicted of mutiny. Joined by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and with the support of the NAACP, Congressman DeSaulnier spearheaded multiple efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to call for the exoneration of the sailors and erase the historic stain from their records. Due in large part to Congressman DeSaulnier’s advocacy spanning a decade, the United States Secretary of the Navy fully exonerated the remaining 256 defendants on July 17, 2024, 80 years after the Port Chicago Disaster.
Confronting Racial Injustice
Congressman DeSaulnier believes we must come together as a nation to dismantle the systems that were built to disadvantage people of color and that is why he began hosting a series of "Conversation on Race" town halls with the goal of discovering and promoting best practices for improving race relations in areas such as health care, education, employment, and criminal justice. He also proudly supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to ban deadly chokeholds, hold problematic officers accountable, and show communities of color that we are serious about making a change. In response to evidence of the disproportionate health effects of coronavirus on communities of color, Congressman DeSaulnier joined an effort to demand that the CDC further investigate and address these disparities.
Pushing for Continued Progress for Individuals with Disabilities:
Americans with disabilities, a group that includes over 40 million people, have struggled against bias, stereotypes, and discrimination throughout our nation's history. As a member of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congressman DeSaulnier introduced the Improving Access to Higher Education Act, the first-ever comprehensive legislation specifically addressing the needs of students with disabilities in higher education. He also authored the Protection and Advocacy in Education Act to provide funding for legal services to assist students with disabilities.
Protecting the Civil Rights of Incarcerated Individuals
Congressman DeSaulnier has been at the forefront of calls for investigations into years of horrific staff-on-inmate abuse at FCI Dublin, a women’s correctional facility in Dublin, California. In response to those calls, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) closed the facility and transferred inmates to alternate locations across the country. When Congressman DeSaulnier heard from current and former inmates about further mistreatment during the transfer process, he organized his colleagues in the House and Senate to demand answers from BOP about what steps were being taken to ensure that the constitutional rights of inmates would be protected. Congressman DeSaulnier and other representatives also called on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees to hold a hearing on the closure of Dublin, and he remains engaged in ensuring that BOP makes meaningful changes to stop the abuse.
For a downloadable copy of Mark's civil rights work, click here:
