Tag: NAACP

Nashville NAACP President Suspended for ‘Undermining’ Organization

Peter D'Abrosca

The President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Nashville has been suspended by the group for allegedly undermining the organization’s principles. 

“The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) President/CEO Derrick Johnson has suspended former NAACP Nashville Branch president Venita Lewis for actions that under mind [sic] the mission and work of the NAACP. Her behavior provided cause for the suspension and her membership removal from the organization,” said a statement from the NAACP Tennessee State Conference. 

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Appellate Court Upholds Ruling on Tennessee Absentee Ballot Request Distribution Law

Peter D'Abrosca

A court ruling saying that absentee ballot requests in Tennessee can only be distributed by qualified elections officials has been upheld by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

In 2020, Tennessee’s Secretary of State Tre Hargett was sued in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee by activists including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the AFL-CIO labor union, who claimed that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, anyone should be able to fill out and return to county election officials an absentee ballot request form on behalf of another person, as long as the form is signed by the would-be absentee voter. 

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Commentary: The Supreme Court’s Ruling on Race-Based Redistricting Is a Real Head-Scratcher

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Chief Justice John Roberts made a major error in judgment last week in rejecting the State of Alabama’s 2022 congressional redistricting plan in Allen v. Milligan, an error that, as dissenting Justice Samuel Alito says, puts the Voting Rights Act “on a perilous and unfortunate path.”

Joined by the three liberal justices and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Roberts, writing for the majority, approved race being the driving factor in drawing up the boundary lines of political districts, while glibly denying he was doing that. That violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

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American Civil Liberties Union Sues Oklahoma over Statewide Ban on Critical Race Theory in Schools

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The far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma over a recently-signed law that forbids the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools, according to CNN.

The lawsuit represents a group of teachers and students who support CRT, and is supported by the ACLU, the Oklahoma NAACP, the American Indian Movement (AIM), and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The suit claims that the law infringes on the rights of freedom of speech guaranteed under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

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Gretchen Whitmer Vetoes Four Election Integrity Bills, Pledges Similar Fate for 35 More

Cooper Moran
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Sunday vetoed four election integrity bills the legislature passed to improve training for election clerks and increase database security.

Pandering to a “captive audience,” Whitmer rejected the bills during a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People dinner in Detroit. Democrats argue election integrity legislation discriminates against black people, though recent polling found some provisions, such as requiring an ID to vote, are popular with that voting bloc.

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Scuffle Broke Out at American Experiment Anti-Critical Race Theory Tour

Hayley Feland

A Black Lives Matter activist was arrested for ripping an “All Lives Matter” button off a participant at the Moorhead stop of the Center for the American Experiment “Raise Our Standards” tour. The tour – taking place across Minnesota – aims to educate parents and others about Critical Race Theory and the danger that they say it poses to schools.

Catrin Wigfall, a presenter during the tour, says there are ways to teach the history of America without implementing critical race theory as a teaching tool. She explained, “The problem with Critical Race Theory is it puts a race-based lens on everything.”

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Election Reform Law Faces Immediate Lawsuits

Grant Holcomb

Governor Ron DeSantis signed an elections reform bill into law Thursday and opposition groups have already filed lawsuits against it. The new law, known as SB90, sets in place limits on access to ballot drop boxes and well as requiring those same ballot drop boxes to be monitored by an employee of the supervisor of elections’ office.

Additionally, voters who wish to request an absentee ballot will have to do so each general election cycle.

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NAACP Leader Criticizes Tennessee for Allocating Only Five Percent of Coronavirus Vaccine for Minorities

Jason M. Reynolds

The Tennessee Department of Health is setting aside a portion of its COVID-19 vaccines for communities that are poorer and have more people of color, but one minority leader says that is not good enough.

After this current first phase, the state will reserve 5 percent of the vaccine for areas that are poorer and have higher numbers of minorities, CBS News reported.

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Loudoun County Schools Superintendent Announced Sudden Departure for Texas Superintendent Position, Parents in New District React

Corinne Murdock

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Eric Williams announced his departure last week without warning. The Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) in Houston, Texas selected Williams as their sole finalist for superintendent in a nationwide search.

LCPS parents and concerned CCISD parents flooded the comments of the official CCISD Facebook page announcement on Williams’ new position. LCPS parents warned CCISD parents that Williams would impose the same social justice initiatives that he’d done while overseeing LCPS, such as through the Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC).

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The Committee Shaping Policy and Curriculum at Loudoun County Public Schools

Corinne Murdock

Behind the scenes at Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), many of the policy and curriculum changes reflecting social justice initiatives are driven by the Minority Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC). MSAAC is an advisory committee under Superintendent Eric Williams and the LCPS School Board.

MSAAC was formed in 1994 to advise and discuss LCPS board and administration on minority student achievement. MSAAC was designed to ensure “advantages in academic, vocational, physical, cultural, and social education” for all students.

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Loudoun County Does The Obama Apology Tour Rendition on Race

Eric Burk

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) issued an apology for operating segregated schools and for resisting efforts to integrate their schools for over a decade after the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education that made segregated schools illegal. The apology is part of the district’s “Action Plans to Combat Systemic Racism.” The apology coincides with the 57th anniversary of the 1963 march where Martin Luther King, Jr. declared, “I have a dream.”

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Minneapolis Mayor Exempted NAACP from Curfew Riot Curfews, Emails Show

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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey gave National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) “staff and volunteers” permission to disobey curfew orders amid riots in his city.

Emails acquired by Alpha News as part of a larger public document dump related to the Minneapolis riots show that Frey “granted an exemption to NAACP from the 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew in Minneapolis for the dates of Friday, May 29 and Saturday May 30, 2020.” The document dump which unearthed these emails was prompted by a data practices request filed by Crime Watch Minneapolis.

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FLASHBACK: Mark Dayton Tells Minnesotans to ‘Find Another State’ If They Aren’t Happy

Anthony Gockowski

  Former Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, once told a crowd of frustrated residents to “find another state” if they weren’t happy with Minnesota. The comments were made during an October 2015 forum in St. Cloud hosted by the local chapter of the NAACP. Dayton was responding to concerns some residents had about the large number of refugees settling in the area. “Minnesota is not like it was 30, 50 years ago. But this is Minnesota and you have every right to be here. And anybody who cannot accept your right to be here and that this is Minnesota should find another state,” Dayton said, calling the behavior of some St. Cloud residents “unacceptable, un-Minnesotan, illegal and immoral.” “If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state,” he continued. “Find a state where the minority population is one percent or whatever. It’s not that in Minnesota. It’s not going to be again. It’s not going to be that in St. Cloud, or Rochester or Worthington.” Video of Dayton’s comments were circulating in conservative Twitter circles Tuesday in response to the mainstream media’s coverage of President Donald Trump. As…

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Donald Trump Pays Tribute to Civil-Rights Heroes in Mississippi as Black Leaders Boycott His Visit

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With some black leaders boycotting the event, President Trump paid tribute Saturday to the heroes of the civil rights movement at the dedication of two museums in Mississippi. Speaking to a small invitation-only group of dignitaries indoors at the new civil-rights museum in Jackson, Mr. Trump called the facility honoring leaders of the movement “a tribute…

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Black Caucus Demands Meeting With FBI Director Over ‘Black Identity Extremists’ Report

Tennessee Star Staff

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) requested a personal meeting Friday with the FBI director over the department’s report that warned of the possible violence coming from “black identity extremists.” The caucus wants to meet with FBI Director Christopher Wray to talk about how the FBI conducted research on “black identity extremists” for its Aug. 3 report…

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