Our statement on racial justice, a free press and the right to protest  

Once again, our nation must face the scourge of racial injustice with the recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among too many others. These deaths have sparked protests around the country, highlighting the critical importance of our rights: to seek racial justice, to seek a redress of grievances, and to safeguard a free press.

We stand by the Black Lives Matter movement’s call to end these injustices and the violence inflicted too often on Black people and other communities of color. The United States will never realize its high ideals of forming “a more perfect Union” until this injustice ends.

We believe that our democracy depends on a free press holding the powerful accountable. We stand with journalists working to tell the story of our democracy in action through accurate, fair and contextual reporting. Without the transparency they provide as eyewitnesses to history, our freedoms are imperiled. We deplore the escalating attacks on journalists by police and call upon elected and appointed officials everywhere to put an end to such abuses.

We are also committed to free speech and the right of people to peaceably assemble and protest. Democracy depends on these rights, as protected by the First Amendment, as well.