Tag Archives: NAACP

NAACP To Counter Virginia KKK Rally with Peace Rally

NAACP To Counter Virginia KKK Rally with Peace Rally

Hate-Group Seeking to Contest Removal of Confederate Statue

Malik Russell
Director of Communications
mrussell@naacpnet.org
410-580-5761 office

Contact:  Lynn M. Bod, Secretary
Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP
naacp1947@gmail.com

Saturday, July 8, 2017, 2- 5: p.m. Jack Jouett Middle School 210 Lambs Road Charlottesville, Virginia 22901

Charlottesville, VA—In response to reports of a Klu Klux Klan rally to contest the removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s statue, the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP plans a peaceful counter rally on Saturday, July 8th in Charlottesville.  The NAACP has committed to removing and advocating the removal of Confederate symbols, including statues and from flags in cities all around the nation. In Charlottesville, they continue to support the call to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee.

In response to the NAACP’s call to remove symbols of hatred and White Supremacy around the nation, many White Supremacist groups have attempted to force jurisdictions to move backwards to a time when racism was lawful and legal by maintaining the symbols of a culture that could only exist off the backs of millions of enslaved Africans.  

The NAACP’s has fought against the KKK for a century and was a staunch  protester of the 1915 film, Birth of a Nation — which depicted freed blacks as slovenly, frivolous, lazy brutes who lusted after white women while depicting the KKK as “gallant saviors” – the film is still used today as a recruitment tool for Klan Membership.

 “As the nation’s oldest and most revered civil rights organization, 108 years to be exact, the NAACP recognizes, appreciates and supports the 1st amendment rights of all persons whether or not we agree with particular forms of expression,” said Janette B. Martin, President, and Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP.

“We will remain vigilant and true to our mission: to ensure the political, social, economic and educational equality of rights of all persons, and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination,” she added.

On Saturday, the Charlottesville NAACP will hold its Albemarle- Steadfast and Immovable Rally from 2- 5: p.m. at the Jack Jouett Middle School 210 Lambs Road Charlottesville, Virginia 22901

The Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP Branch and other branches throughout Virginia are asking others to join them in taking a stand against racism and for justice, equality and civil rights.

Confirmed Rally Speakers include:     

  • Janette Boyd Martin, President, Albemarle- Charlottesville NAACP
  • Rev. Dr. Susan Minasian, Pastor, Sojourners United Church of Christ in Charlottesville
  • Joe Szakos, Executive Director, Virginia Organizing
  • Shirley Roundtree, Area Chair, Region 11. VSC
  • George Mentore, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Virginia
  • Walt Heinecke, Associate Professor. Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia
  • Claudrena Harold, Associate Professor of History, Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia
  • Philip Thompson, President, Loudoun County NAACP Branch
  • King Salim Khalfani, Director, Americans Resisting Minority & Ethnic Discrimination
  • Weston Gobar, President, Black Student Alliance at the University of Virginia

Saturday, July 8, 2017, 2- 5: p.m. Jack Jouett Middle School 210 Lambs Road Charlottesville, Virginia 22901

A man was lynched yesterday

There was a 21st century lynching yesterday. And the day before that, too.


This has to stop.

Activists created the NAACP more than a century ago to fight racialized violence.

Then, we called it "lynching." Today, we call it "police brutality," but the effect is still the same — our lives are in danger. Endangered by some of the very people who are called to protect and serve us. We are all tense, angry, devastated, and grieving.

We grieve for Alton Sterling. We grieve for Philando Castile. And we grieve with the rest of the country over the senseless loss of lives in Dallas, too — because the execution of police officers does not end the execution of black Americans, and it will not put us on the path to change.

What will put us on the path to justice is the passage of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act (LETIA) and the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA). Radical reform of policing practices, policies, and laws at all levels must be made — immediately — because the current system is taking too many lives.

We can take small solace in the fact that the outrage over this 21st century form of lynching is not isolated to the black community. Americans of all races and ethnicities are fighting to put an end to the epidemic of violence — gun violence in particular — in this country. Now is the time to come together as one in grief, in protest, and in pursuit of real, measurable change.

As an organization, we are doing everything we can to ensure justice is served, but we can't do it alone. Stand in solidarity with your fellow activists, hand in hand with your community. Contact your elected officials to demand life-saving reforms to a broken system.

We can — and must — put an end to this together.

Cornell William Brooks
President and CEO
NAACP

Virginia’s $200 Felony Grand Larceny Threshold (FGLT)

Virginia State Conference NAACP

Click here for PDF version of this letter

DATE:  December 8, 2015                                       

CONTACTS:
Jack Gravely  804-321-5678                                                                              
Rodney Thomas  804-677-8349

Richmond, VA – In preparing for the 2016 Virginia General Assembly, many citizens are gravely concerned about a number of critical issues that are already being debated by influential lobbyists who represent self-serving clients. It is troubling many Virginia lawmakers seem to sheepishly follow the lead of lobbyists – too often to the harm of vulnerable citizens in Virginia. These early discussions also include many governmental agencies, special commissions and McAuliffe Administration officials.
 
A significant concern of the statewide organizations and groups listed below – and many others – is Virginia’s $200 Felony Grand Larceny Threshold (FGLT).  The alarming fact is Virginia’s $200 FGLT is sadly among the lowest in the entire nation (along with New Jersey) – see details below.
 
To both strongly voice widespread voter and citizen outrage about Virginia’s embarrassingly low $200 FGLT and also demand passage of legislation that substantially increases Virginia’s FGLT up to $1500, a wide array of community leaders, church leaders, statewide church leadership organizations encompassing many denominations, activists, taxpayers, consumers and many others have come together in a historic way working to bring about change in Virginia’s outdated and punitive $200 FGLT.
 
The Virginia State Conference NAACP (and members of 100 branches), Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration, Baptist General Convention of Virginia (with pastors and members in 1200 congregations, Baptist Minister’s Conference of Richmond & Vicinity, Richmond Crusade for Voters, African American Family Initiative, Baptist Minister’s Conference of Goochland & Vicinity, African American Lecture Series Committee, Henrico Minister’s Conference, Virginia’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Men on the Mainline along with many other concerned statewide groups, organizations and citizens all FORMALLY call on all General Assembly members, Governor McAuliffe and the Virginia Retail Merchants Association to introduce, FULLY SUPPORT and pass legislation to increase Virginia’s FGLT up to $1500.
Virginia’s $200 FGLT is embarrassingly low in comparison to such in other mid-Atlantic states which have levels that are much higher:  –PA & SC at $2000  -DE at $1500  -NC, MD, DC & WV at $1000.
 
Virginia’s archaic $200 FGLT has been debated for decades in the General Assembly, among Commonwealth Attorneys and their Association, the Virginia State Bar Association, Sheriffs across Virginia and their Association, Clerk of Courts, Judges, attorneys, pastors and church congregations of all faiths and denominations and in both Republican and Democrat organization.
 
Heretofore, years of discussion has been unsuccessful resulting from extremely conservative / outdated General Assembly attitudes along with ardent refusal by the Virginia Retail (and other) Merchants Association, their lobbyist henchmen and corporate members with whom Virginia consumers patronize every day – i.e., Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, CVS, Food Lion, Walgreen’s, Sam’s Club, Kroger, Bank of America, Martins, COSTCO, RiteAid and many, many others.
 
Totally lost in these discussions are cost savings to taxpayers resulting from even a modest increase in Virginia’s FGLT. As reflected in a 2008 Virginia Department of Correction report, whose researchers informed the Virginia Crime Commission that from 2008 – 2014 Virginia could have saved over $14,000,000 in taxpayer dollars simply by (at that time) increasing the FGLT up to a modest $600.
 
Virginia taxpayers, their families, communities and persons of all denominations should not have to bear the burden imposed upon them by paying such an onerous price to protect profits of the same cash-rich retailers who many faithfully patronize everyday – such is simply corporate welfare on the backs of taxpayers. 

Click here for PDF version of this letter

Add African-American voices to law

From the Charlottesville Daily Progress Letters to the Editor, January 30, 2015

After reading The Daily Progress story “Albemarle supervisors agree to fund extra attorney for county commonwealth’s attorney’s office” (Daily Progress, 2015 January 7), and after subsequently visiting the Albemarle County and Charlottesville commonwealth’s attorney’s offices to inquire about the presence of African-American attorneys, I learned that neither office presently has any African-American attorneys.

This is an excellent opportunity to remind both Albemarle County’s commonwealth’s attorney, Denise Lunsford, and Charlottesville’s commonwealth’s attorney, Dave Chapman, that if they believe in racial diversity they should consider hiring African-American attorneys in these very important offices.

If they are to adhere to the mission of their offices — which is dedicated to pursing justice and protecting the rights and safety of the citizens of Albemarle and Charlottesville and their visitors — then they should include a racially diverse team of attorneys that reflects the diversity in the county’s and city’s population.

Mission statements talk about how the offices aspire to enforce criminal laws in a fair, compassionate, ethical and just manner. That’s a very important aspiration. But those are subjective terms, and what is fair, just or compassionate often depends on one’s perspective and background.

The commonwealth’s attorney’s offices — and all of the law offices in Albemarle and Charlottesville — therefore would benefit from having on their legal teams attorneys who come from a similar racial background as many of the people they represent or otherwise encounter in the criminal justice system.

Coming from similar background, an attorney might be able to better understand a broader array of the social dynamics that result in the disproportionately high rate of interaction that Africans-Americans and other people of color have with the criminal justice system, as well as the unique set of challenges that they may face.

That perspective would seem to be very valuable in many aspects of the duties of the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, such as determining how best to prevent crime from happening in the first place, negotiating settlements, and determining the most suitable and effective punishment when crime has occurred.

In short, such attorneys could bring to the table an important perspective of what constitutes fairness, justice and compassion, and could help the commonwealth, city, county and all the law offices fulfill their mandate to prosecute and handle issues of justice with integrity, equality and excellence.

M. Rick Turner
Charlottesville