January 21, 2021

EWNJ Statement on the Insurrection at Our Nation’s Capitol

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His courage, sacrifice, and wisdom led to transformative change in our nation, and we must honor his legacy by upholding it. While our country has made tremendous progress as evidenced by the election of the first woman, Black woman, and Asian American Vice President of the United States, the January 6th insurrection laid bare how much more work there is to be done. If we are to uphold the legacy of Dr. King, we cannot be silent in the face of racial bigotry and injustice and we must fortify our words with actions. 

Please take a moment to read and share EWNJ’s statement on the insurrection at our nation’s Capitol.

EWNJ Statement on the Insurrection at our Nation’s Capitol

As an organization that advocates for gender and racial equity in the workplace, it is difficult to put into words our sentiments watching as the violent insurrection unfolded on January 6th in our nation’s Capitol. The horrendous nature of the events were compounded by the fact that we are on the cusp of memorializing the historic and long-overdue election of our first woman, Black woman, and Asian American Vice President. It is a grave disappointment that images of violent mobs steeped in nazi paraphenalia and confederate flags, symbols of racial bigotry and anti-semiticism, overwhelmed such a momentous occasion. This was not only an attack on Congress, it was an attack on our nation, meant to terrorize and disenfranchise millions of voters and to halt the hard-fought progress that we have collectively made. 

This moment was not inevitable. We’ve been headed down this path for years. This was a colossal failure of leadership on the part of our elected officials who refused to condemn racist rhetoric and hold accountable the extremist elements who advanced this nefarious agenda. In the absence of ongoing accountability, there will be more deadly violence. We have been heartened to see many corporations not only forcefully denounce this act of domestic terrorism but also impose consequences on the elected officials who enabled and incited it. Now is not the time for silence; it is a time for decisive action to protect our constitution and the democracy that is the heart and soul of this nation. We must affirmatively safeguard our democracy, and we call on corporate leaders in New Jersey to join in taking action to address our nation’s crisis of accountability, which is what brought us to this dangerous point. 

Anna María Tejada, Esq.
President, EWNJ
Partner, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP