The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In her documentary film, Free Land, Minda Martin explores the impact her Cherokee ancestors have had on her family's nomadic life.

The film primarily focuses on her grandmother, Cordelia Taylor, who moved at least 43 times with her husband after the government-mandated Cherokee removal in 1830. Taylor was miserable when she first moved. The land where she grew up held deep traditions; all of her ancestors had been born, grown up, died, and been buried in the same place. "For my people," her voiceover simply states, "no one owned land." 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights welcomed President Obama's signing today of the financial reform bill. In a statement, Executive Vice President Nancy Zirkin said:

"When President Obama signed the financial reform bill into law today, he sent a resounding message that his administration will not tolerate the reckless Wall Street practices that cost millions of hard-working families their homes, their jobs, and their retirement savings. 

This is a major victory for American consumers. Now that the real regulatory work can begin, we turn to President Obama once more to appoint Elizabeth Warren as the head of the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB will help everyone, but especially Black and Latino families who have been purposely steered into taking subprime and predatory loans they could not afford, even when they qualified for better terms. The regulations it implements will have a great impact on consumer safety and provide a rational framework for more equitable economic growth.

The civil and human rights coalition strongly supports this historic law, and we look forward to seeing the difference it makes in Americans' lives."

The Leadership Conference joined with a broad coalition of organizations to ensure that final financial reform legislation included strong protections for consumers and effective regulation to hold Wall Street accountable.

Last night, the House of Representatives passed 237-192 the final financial reform bill that emerged from the House-Senate conference committee last week. 

Civil rights and consumer advocates are hailing the final financial reform legislation that emerged today from the House-Senate conference committee.

Congress is nearing completion of its work reforming Wall Street.  The Leadership Conference and its allies in the Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) coalition are working to ensure that Congress includes strong protections for consumers and effective regulation to hold Wall Street accountable — and stave off future crises that can wreck the economy and upend the lives of millions of Americans, especially members of economically vulnerable communities.