GritTV’s Laura Flanders talks with Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorofChange.org, about his efforts to convince corporations to drop their affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

An organization that works to strengthen black America’s political voice, ColorofChange began lobbying corporations to quit ALEC in response to new voter ID laws, backed by ALEC, that disporportionately affect minority voters. Then a young African American named Trayvon Martin was gunned down in a Florida suburb. His killer initially avoided arrest, pointing to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which was promoted by ALEC as a model for laws across the country. In the wake of the Martin tragedy, ColorofChange’s anti-ALEC campaign picked up steam. To date, 40 major corporations have left ALEC.

Says Robinson:

We have to do all we can to stay vigilant and hold corporations accountable for how they use their dollars in the public space…. My membership doesn’t have the type of money that Walmart or McDonalds or Coca-Cola has.  All we have is our voice. And when our voice is put in peril by laws like voter I.D., then we not only need to stand up to those state legislators who put those laws in place.  But we need to stand up to anybody who supports those state legislators.  And if those are corporations that come into our community and seek to do business, then they need to understand that they will not be able to do it without being held accountable.