The Thurgood Marshall Social Justice Resource Center was created to help our communities work on eradicating poverty, end housing discrimination, and challenge institutions, customs and laws that perpetuate or produce the many ills that we face, including racism, injustice, hardships and discrimination. The Center will offer resources, advice and tools to empower the community. It will help them to fight against discrimination, poverty and injustice, encourage them not be afraid to fight for their rights and coax them to obtain the JUSTICE they seek.
America’s middle- and working-class has been ravaged by a lingering recession, an economic downturn which saw trillions of dollars of people’s wealth and savings disappear, as well as a housing meltdown. For the past decade, unemployment skyrocketed, wages remained stagnant, companies saved money by producing goods using cheap overseas labor and the wage and salary gap between rich and poor, black and white continues to widen.
Poverty has a firm grip on America. According to statistics released by the U.S. Census, almost 50 million men, women and children are mired in poverty. When the near-poor and new poor are added, the number of Americans who live in poverty approaches 150 million with blacks, Latinos, children and seniors being hit particularly hard.
And reminiscent of the 1960s, social upheaval has cut a wide swath across the United States marked by demonstrations, marches and acts of civil disobedience against disparities in the criminal justice system; a faltering public education system; and structural inequalities built into the system which favor whites over other races. The police-involved killings of black and brown men, women and children has bought to the forefront issues of reform, fairness, equity and justice which are as much a part of the national conversation than any time in recent history.
The Thurgood Marshall Social Justice Resource Center is an advocate, a partner, a guidepost, an educator, a force for the public good. The Center seeks to provide citizens with the resources and tools they need to fight against discrimination, poverty and injustice, while educating them, so that they are party to substantive and meaningful change and help lay the foundation for a more just society.