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I recently had the opportunity to work the week-long 100th NAACP convention in New York City. My responsibilities allowed me access to a number of invite-only events, talks, parties, etc... Oh, and by the way, I’m white. Very White. Just a few observations: This is an old organization. The members are old and getting older. There just aren’t many young members that were readily apparent. And you’d figure they would want to come to NYC for something of this magnitude. And the young people I have seen are totally out of touch with the older members. They seem to avoid...

INSTITUTE W.Va.-- The state convention of the West Virginia NAACP is underway in Kanawha County. On the second day of the event was a series of forums on a variety of civil rights issues, including racial profiling. A recent study commissioned by the West Virginia Legislature showed more minority drivers are stopped by police than white drivers. "It's very hurtful. It's very judgemental, judging people by their color or what they're driving or what they look like. It's unfair," said Constance Smith of Martinsburg. Smith is one of 60 delegates attending the NAACP State Convention at West Virginia State University....

HAMTRAMCK - Residents and civil rights advocates are appalled that Asm Kamal Rahman, a leading voice in the successful ballot initiative to overturn a local anti-discrimination ordinance last year, is now sitting on the boards of civil rights groups in southeast Michigan.

NAACP Continues its Support of Special Advisor of Green Jobs Van Jones and the White House Green Jobs Initiative. The NAACP is calling for civility in the national discourse on safe, clean communities and sustainable sources of domestic energy. It is time to end the personal attacks on administration officials as a distraction to crucial discussion on our nation and our world's environmental conditions. NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous: “It is sad and unfortunate that our nation's precious airwaves and cable television time are being occupied with the unscrupulous, diversionary tactics launched by right wing extremists such as...

WASHINGTON DC – The NAACP announced today, unwavering support for Tom Perez for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In a letter to the United States Senate, the NAACP urged the Senate to confirm Perez expeditiously. “The NAACP strongly urges the United States Senate to confirm Tom Perez for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. His breadth and depth of experience on the local, state and federal level make him the best candidate to work with Attorney General Eric Holder to rebuild the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice,” stated Hilary O. Shelton, Senior Vice President for...

On the 100th anniversary of the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Governor Charlie Crist today called on Adora Obi Nweze of Miami to serve as Special Advisor to the Governor on Minority Affairs. Nweze will serve as a representative for the state’s minorities by advising Governor Crist on strategies that will ensure Florida’s government is accessible to these populations. She will continue as president of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP. The Governor's appointment of Nweze is believed to be the first state partnership with the NAACP through an official appointment in...

WASHINGTON - Julian Bond has condemned the war in Iraq and administration policy on education and the economy, yet the NAACP’s chairman is urging President Bush to attend the civil rights group’s annual convention. “We are eminently hopeful that the president will come,” said Bond, whose speech Sunday evening helps kick off this week’s conference. Bush has avoided the conventions since taking office in 2001. His schedule for Wednesday lists an event with the notation “TBA,” or to be announced.

Wednesday -- April 5, 2006RACIST HOUSE SPENDING RULES SNAG MCKINNEY Perhaps you didn't know it, but using taxpayer funds for political fundraising is against the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. It now seems that Cynthia McKinney took $1000 from her congressional office budget to fly Isaac Hayes to her district last year. He was there to be the headliner at a political fundraiser for McKinney.  Cynthia McKinney has broken the law.  Now it looks like McKinney is going to have to pay that money back somehow.  Obviously, this rule is racist.  It was put in place to nothing...

NASHVILLE - An NAACP official on Friday urged Tennessee Republicans to censure Knoxville's state Rep. Stacey Campfield and demand his resignation as a lawmaker because he compared the Legislature's Black Caucus to the Ku Klux Klan. Campfield, a white Republican legislator who has found himself a subject of national attention after being told he cannot join the Black Caucus, said his remarks have been misinterpreted and that he sees no reason to resign. The latest round began with a letter sent to state Republican Chairman Bob Davis by Nashville NAACP President Arnett H. Bodenhamer, declaring that his organization is "incensed"...

MILWAUKEE - (KRT) - NAACP Chairman Julian Bond bashed President Bush and other conservatives Sunday, warning they have tried to seduce black clergy, created ``fraudulent'' civil rights organizations and backed federal judicial nominees who come from a ``dim and gloomy legal netherworld where few Americans wish to dwell.'' Officially kicking off the NAACP's 96th annual convention, its first in Milwaukee, a fiery Bond told delegates they have won great accomplishments but must continue to fight widespread discrimination

Bond comes out swinging at Bush He denounces president in speech By TOM KERTSCHER tkertscher@journalsentinel.com Posted: July 10, 2005 NAACP Chairman Julian Bond bashed President Bush and other conservatives Sunday, warning they have tried to seduce black clergy, created "fraudulent" civil rights organizations and backed federal judicial nominees who come from a "dim and gloomy legal netherworld where few Americans wish to dwell." "We have never wished our way to freedom, instead we've always worked our way," he said in a 50-minute keynote address at the Midwest Airlines Center. Bond opened with an attack, saying, "Milwaukee is the home of...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.(AP) _ If Crystal Hunt and Marquita Jackson were looking to draw attention, they succeeded. Wolf whistles and honking horns followed the bikini-clad duo as they strutted down Ocean Boulevard. Hunt was wearing a red-white-and-blue Confederate battle flag wrap over her white two-piece, Jackson a bra bearing the familiar diagonal blue cross and white stars co-opted by the Ku Klux Klan. You could say the two black women were thumbing their noses at the NAACP's 5-year-old boycott of South Carolina except for one thing: Neither of the 21-year-old North Carolina women had any idea there even was a...

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People started the boycott in 2000 to get the Confederate battle flag off the South Carolina statehouse dome. That goal was achieved in July of that year, but the organization continued the sanctions when the flag was moved to a memorial on the statehouse grounds - a place of honor the group feels the flag doesn't deserve. But judging from the columns of black motorcyclists zooming up and down the Grand Strand during the recent "Black Bike Week," few are heeding the call. "I spend my money wherever I want to," Jackson,...

Is this the New Racism? Black woman civil rights lawyer in the tradition of a Fanny Lou Hamer, runs for DA in 2001 against white male incumbent, amidst charges of corruption from the political machine, which spawned him. Her banner- Justice not Politics. Media Ignores Her. Incumbent’s agent vows to crush her. He levels an unprecedented colossal election battle against her and supporters, a mosaic, mostly people of color. Supporters are harassed all hours of the night by his agents. An extraordinary 150 people are subpoenaed including her father who had been dead 13 years. Media Ignores Her. She is...

The setting reads like an ad for a deluxe Memorial Day Weekend getaway: Rounds of golf at a choice of four championship courses. Seaweed wraps and aromatherapy facials at the resort's top-notch spa. And hours of lounging on sun-soaked Florida beaches. While a vacation escape is the lure, the goal is to talk civil rights business and reinvigorate the aging membership of the nation's oldest civil rights organization. Hoping to entice post-civil rights era black professionals to the aging National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the organization is trying something new: blending old-fashioned social activism with the leisure...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Blacks lag far behind whites in economic status, health and education and are in danger of "a great backslide" from the gains made since the civil rights movement began, the National Urban League said on Wednesday. "This year ... almost every indicator available shows that progress for black America is stalling or falling," said Marc Morial, the league's president, at a briefing to release the group's annual Equality Index. The index found the overall status of blacks in the United States stayed at 73 percent of the status their white counterparts have, virtually unchanged from the 2004...

A coalition of liberal groups is hailing the state of Nebraska for restoring the voting rights of felons. Although Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican, vetoed the bill on Wednesday, the state's unicameral legislature overrode his veto on Thursday by a 36-11 vote (six votes more than the 30 needed for an override). The new law will automatically restore the voting rights of Nebraska felons two years after they complete their prison sentences or meet the terms of their parole or probation. Right now, it takes a pardon to restore voting rights in Nebraska, but pardons aren't granted until at...

US Senator Barack Obama on Thursday called President George W. Bush's suggestion that African-Americans could reap greater rewards from overhauling Social Security a 'stunning' arguement that ignored the true health issues facing blacks in the country.As the president launched his two day tour through the South to build support for his controversial plan to revamp Social Security, Democrats challenged a White House assertion that blacks could gain from Bush's proposed private retirement accounts because they have fewer years to collect benefits considering that they die younger. 'It is puzzling to me that we are even having this debate about whether...

Back in November, three African-American teachers at an Elizabeth grammar school found Thanksgiving greeting cards in their school mailboxes that contained scrawled threats and racist hate messages. Now Elizabeth school officials believe one of recipients was the author. Rondell Taylor, 29, a special education teacher, was fired March 1 after school administrators determined he wrote the cards and left them for himself and two female colleagues at Peterstown School No. 3.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The NAACP is refusing to give the U.S. Internal Revenue Service documents the agency requested in an investigation into alleged improper political activity. The group, the nation's largest civil rights organization, told the IRS it believes the investigation is politically motivated and, in a letter Friday, cited what it claims is evidence the investigation resulted from pre-election political pressure. The IRS notified the NAACP of the investigation Oct. 8, USA Today reported Monday. The group's federal tax-exempt status came under review after NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond, a former Georgia Democratic state legislator, attacked President...

President Bush plans to meet with black legislators today after meeting with black clergy yesterday, although liberal civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond were not invited. Instead of granting an audience to black activists who have been strongly critical of the administration, Mr. Bush huddled yesterday with a group of black ministers and executives described by the White House as "committed to improving the lives of African-Americans." Today, the president meets with the Congressional Black Caucus, which planned to present Mr. Bush with a legislative wish list. "We will lay out a succinct agenda...

A Star Tribune reporter was disciplined Thursday after he disclosed that he wrote an e-mail to a Minneapolis police official that contained racially insensitive language. David Chanen, a police reporter, told editors that he used the term "colored officers" in an e-mail sent Wednesday to Minneapolis Police Inspector Donald Banham, who is black. Star Tribune Managing Editor Scott Gillespie sent a letter Thursday to Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus saying that the newspaper "owes you and your department a deep and sincere apology" for the language used in the e-mail. McManus said Thursday night that the newspaper's apology "should be...

We're on the NAACP's side.Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black...

RACINE - The get out the vote project planned by Horlick High School students has been canceled. Racine Unified School District Superintendent Thomas Hicks said what started out to be a class-related activity last week turned out to be a partisan event. The decision to cancel the event was made Monday morning after he learned the facts had changed and it was no longer a bipartisan endeavor. "At one point it appeared it was going to be bipartisan and reach out to all of the community. But some groups decided they didn't want be part of it. Not everyone was...

As a black Southern conservative, Michael King says he has felt "antagonized" by the NAACP. So when he learned Friday that the IRS was investigating whether the nonprofit civil rights organization violated restrictions on political activity, he said his first thought was: It's been a long time coming. "If you don't march in step with their views, they have no use for you," said King, 41, about the NAACP. "On the contrary, they will do everything that they can to tear you down." [snip] King, who lives in Atlanta and is a member of the black conservative group Project 21,...

Horlick voter drive will proceed By Phyllis Sides RACINE - Horlick High School students will still help get out the vote next week, despite the decision to pull the plug on a similar program in Milwaukee. Jose Martinez, Racine Unified's assistant superintendent for secondary education, said students' efforts are part of a service learning project that is nonpartisan. The participating students are part of social studies classes that have been studying presidential elections and the democratic process. Students will spend the entire school day Tuesday going door-to-door, in all of the city's 35 wards, providing information on how people can...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Internal Revenue Service has begun reviewing the NAACP's tax-exempt status, citing concerns over a speech given by its chairman at its annual convention last July in Philadelphia. In a letter dated Oct. 8 and released Thursday, the IRS told the NAACP it had received information that chairman Julian Bond conveyed "statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency" and specifically "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush in education, the economy and the war in Iraq."

To: National Desk Contact: Andi Pringle, 202-842-8980, or Scott Treibitz, 703-276-2772 ext. 11, both for the NAACP National Voter Fund WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement of Greg Moore, executive director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, regarding the Ohio man charged with voter registration fraud: The NAACP National Voter Fund is shocked by the stories swirling in Ohio regarding a Defiance man who has allegedly filled in over 100 fraudulent voter registration forms in exchange for cocaine. This matter deserves the attention of law enforcement. If laws have been violated, then legal action should be...

DEFIANCE, Ohio (AP) -- Elections officials knew something was wrong when they got voter registration cards for Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Michael Jordan and George Foreman. They notified the Defiance County sheriff, who arrested Chad Staton on Monday on a felony charge of submitting phony voter registration forms. Investigators also were looking into allegations that he was paid with cocaine in exchange for his efforts. Staton, 22, had fraudulently filled out more than 100 voter registration forms, Sheriff David Westrick said. "Staton was to be paid for each registration form that he could get citizens to fill out," the sheriff...

can't believe nearly a month after the Wayanses released "White Chicks," the only public criticism has come from a white country singer who was defending a comedian in blackface. In the film, Marlon and Shawn Wayans play bumbling FBI agents who basically don whiteface to impersonate two rich white sisters. The movie parodies Hampton socialites, but it also perpetuates stereotypes that apply to whites of any economic level: whites can't dance, they're nonconfrontational, and the women are clueless and easy. Blacks still face cultural stereotypes in entertainment, but picking on whites is annoyingly pervasive in entertainment geared toward African Americans....

YORK, Pa. - President Bush said Friday that he declined an invitation to speak to the NAACP's convention in Philadelphia because of harsh statements about him by leaders of the venerable civil rights group. ''I would describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent,'' Bush told reporters. ``You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me.'' Bush added that he ''admired some'' NAACP leaders and said he would seek members' support ``in other ways.'' The decision not to speak was a far cry from candidate Bush's appeal to the NAACP four years ago when he conceded at...

SACRAMENTO - A lawmaker who had called for Education Secretary Richard Riordan to resign for joking with a 6-year-old that her name meant ``stupid, dirty girl'' abruptly backed off Thursday after mistakenly suggesting that race was a factor in the quip. Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Los Angeles, canceled a news conference today with civil rights groups after learning that the girl subjected to Riordan's joke was white, not African-American. An aide to Dymally said the assemblyman had seen conflicting news accounts of the girl's race. In a press release canceling the news conference, Dymally, who is African-American, said Riordan had apologized...

There was quite a bit of chatter in the Capitol on Wednesday about some unexpected fireworks flying at a ceremony honoring civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height after comic Bill Cosby snubbed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Cosby decided to voice his opposition to the Bush administration’s foreign policy by refusing to sit next to Rice, as organizers had planned, at the event in which Height received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Bush and Hill leaders. “It’s too bad that Mr. Cosby couldn’t cross the partisan divide, especially at an event for a great civil rights leader,” griped one senior...

<p>Two influential liberal interest groups yesterday said it would be "disastrous" if the Senate approved a black female judge from California who President Bush nominated in July to serve on the federal circuit court of appeals here in Washington.</p> <p>A joint report by People for the American Way and the NAACP said California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown is "committed to using her power as a judge" to work against civil and constitutional rights.</p>

Support NOW's Work | August 8, 2003 | Tell a Friend Rally with NOW and Other Civil Rights Organizations in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 23 Action Needed: Please join us and tens of thousands of other activists who will travel to the nation's capital from around the country to join an Aug. 23 rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The weekend activities are listed below. These events, co-sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women (NOW),...

NAACP Still Seeking Meeting With Bush 1 hour, 6 minutes ago Add White House - AP to My Yahoo! By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Since the days of Warren G. Harding, presidents have met at the White House with leaders of the NAACP. Not President Bush (news - web sites) — at least not yet. AP Photo More than halfway through his presidency, Bush has yet to receive the nation's oldest civil rights group or the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights, an umbrella organization. The president met with the Congressional Black Caucus (news - web sites) for...

Gov. Jeb Bush, whose affirmative action and education initiatives have drawn fire -- and lawsuits -- from the NAACP, will miss the first national NAACP convention to be held in Florida in more than two decades.A spokesman for the governor said Thursday that Bush, who was invited, would not be able to attend the Miami Beach event next week because he's needed in Tallahassee as legislators return to tussle over his insistence on revamping the state's medical malpractice insurance system.The special session starts July 9 and is scheduled to end July 16. The civil rights convention runs July 12-17.Bush's absence,...

John Gibson just broke in with a news alert stating that a jury has concluded that gun manufacturers are not responsible for deaths incurred by the improper use of their products. The suit was brought by the NAACP.

Over the weekend, when Trent Lott’s 49 other colleagues were linking their arms and holding their breath to see how his latest serial apology played out, Senator Don Nickles did the right thing. This was not an act of ambition. One would have to think that he is a singularly stupid man to imagine that he saw this as a ticket to the top of the pile. Of course his statement of the obvious – that Trent Lott has to step aside for the good of conservative policy and the Republican party – would be seen as opportunistic. To Senator...