The Southern Poverty Law Centeris a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.
Founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. in 1971, the SPLC is internationally known for tracking and exposing the activities of hate groups. Our innovative Teaching Tolerance program produces and distributes – free of charge – documentary films, books, lesson plans and other materials that promote tolerance and respect in our nation’s schools.
We are based in Montgomery, Ala., the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement, and have offices in Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami, Fla., and Jackson, Miss.
What We Do
The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, we work toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. Read on…
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is composed of women and men who recognize the essential unity of all creation and have joined together to explore the power of love and truth for resolving human conflict. While it has always been vigorous in its opposition to war, FOR has insisted equally that this effort must be based on a commitment to the achieving of a just and peaceful world community, with full dignity and freedom for every human being.
In working out these objectives, FOR seeks the company of people of faith who will respond to conflict nonviolently, seeking reconciliation through compassionate action. FOR encourages the integration of faith into the lives of individual members. At the same time it is a special role of FOR to extend the boundaries of community and affirm its diversity of religious traditions as it seeks the resolution of conflict by the united efforts of people of many faiths.
The civil rights group says recent voter restrictions are a deliberate attempt to dilute the political power of minorities.
State-level voting restrictions are an attempt to suppress the minority vote and prevent them from exercising political influence, according
to a report released by the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Monday.
“Jim Crow is poll taxes, James Crow Esquire it’s having to pay for an ID,” said NAACP Sr. Vice President for Policy and Advocacy Hilary Shelton on a conference call with reporters Monday. NAACP officials referred to the voting restrictions as “James Crow, Esq.,” so as to distinguish them from the violent tactics associated with enforcing Jim Crow segregation. ”The intent seems to [be to] disenfranchise people of color disproportionately,” said NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
Despite the great violence of our world, the ruthless dictatorships, widespread poverty and exploitation, and widespread popular helplessness of oppressed people, the 20th century and the new one have seen the emergence of the practice of powerful movements able to expand justice and freedom by actions of nonviolent people.
Building on decades of experience, study, and learning in many parts of the world, nonviolent struggle has emerged as a realistic alternative to both violence and passivity. People have begun to learn that they need not be the victims of violent oppression nor the tools manipulative elites of their own country or foreign regimes.
Standing from Left to Right, NAACP of Otero County members Virgil George, Velma Moore, Charles Cromer, Denise Lang, Chris Jones, Bill Stroud, Sylvester Mattox, Bill Brooks, Karen Hutchison. Sitting are Shaughn Marlowe , Johnnie Scott, Alamogordo Public Librarian Steve Haydu, James Washington, Esther Washington and, presenting the book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander, is NAACP of Otero County, President Warren Robinson.
Photo – Ken Nicholson Read on…
The newly elected President of the California NAACP, Alice A. Huffman (right), and the Treasurer of the Otero County, New Mexico NAACP, Denise Lang (left) together at the opening plenary session of the International Drug Policy Reform Convention in Los Angeles, California the first week of November.
The following video will give you a good idea of why this woman is so special:
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is the nation’s leading organization promoting alternatives to current drug policy that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
Our supporters are individuals who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. Together we advance policies that reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and seek solutions that promote safety while upholding the sovereignty of individuals over their own minds and bodies. We work to ensure that our nation’s drug policies no longer arrest, incarcerate, disenfranchise and otherwise harm millions – particularly young people and people of color who are disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.
The Otero County NAACP Redress Committee provides legal advice and information to community members in the event one may feel that their civil rights have been violated. For more information on Legal Redress, contact any of our local officers listed under our contact information.
Always second Saturday! Next regular meeting , Saturday, February 11, 2012, 1:00 pm at the Vision Ford Atrium, 1500 S. White Sands, Alamogordo, NM, Visitors welcome!
Should you see an article, a story, or anything else that you think may be of interest to our members and viewers, please copy and paste it into your email system and forward it to us and it will be published* under your name.
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