NAACP

Ben Jealous: President NAACP

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.

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NAACP donates book to Alamogordo Public Library.

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
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NAACP in Los Angeles, Ca.

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.

NAACP PASSES HISTORIC RESOLUTION CALLING FOR END TO WAR ON DRUGS

Neill Franklin at the NAACP Criminal Justice Summit

President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous: Major step towards equity, justice, effective law enforcement

(Los Angeles, CA) – Today the NAACP passed a historic resolution calling for an end to the war on drugs. The resolution was voted on by a majority of delegates at the 102nd NAACP Annual Convention in Los Angeles, CA. The overall message of the resolution is captured by its title: A Call to End the War on Drugs, Allocate Funding to Investigate Substance Abuse Treatment, Education, and Opportunities in Communities of Color for A Better Tomorrow.

“Today the NAACP has taken a major step towards equity, justice and effective law enforcement,” stated Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP. “These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America.”

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Benjamin Jealous, keynote speaker at the NAACP 102nd Annual Convention 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Brutal Reprisals Against Peaceful GA Inmate Strikers Confirmed, Was One Victim Hidden For Weeks By Prison Authorities?

By BAR Managing Editor Bruce A. Dixon

Black, brown and white inmates in 6 Georgia prisons nonviolently locked themselves in their cells for several days beginning December 9, demanding wages for work, educational opportunities, adequate food and medical care, just parole decisions and access to their families. The peaceful inmate strikers, as we reported the following day, were already victims of brutal retaliation on the part of correctional officials, ranging from cutoffs of heat and hot water to unprovoked assaults by correctional employees upon prisoners. (more…)