NAACP Story Archives - Page 3 of 3 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

NAACP Says Bills Could Negatively Affect Minorities

On Civil Rights Day at the Capitol, Local members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the HOPE Community Development Corporation met to persuade lawmakers to advance legislation that benefits the minority community.

Specifically, the groups are concerned about the fate of Senate Bill 649. It would create a Minority Economic Development Advisory Team to address the economic problems facing underserved minority populations in West Virginia.

The bill remains in the Senate Government Organization Committee after being introduced last week and is facing a final deadline for passage by Wednesday, the last day for Senators to approve bills that originated in their chamber.

The groups were also seeking to halt the passage of three bills, House Bill 4240, relating to the Uniform Controlled Substance Act, House Bill 4576, which would increase penalties for transporting controlled substances, and House Bill 4578, which would create a criminal offense of conspiracy to violate drug laws.

Reverend Matthew J. Watts with the NAACP, says while he understands the intentions of these bills, the end result will be higher incarceration rates for minorities.

“These three bills are not only going to cause a growth in our prison population, drain money away from education, job training and substance-abuse programs, and just fill up our prisons that are already overcrowded,” Watts said. “These three bills that are closely connected together and there kind of going under the radar. Nobody is paying much attention to those bills. The NAACP is trying to bring those bills to light so people will pay attention.”

All three bills are on second reading in the House today and up for a vote Tuesday.

Longtime civil rights activist Bond dies at 75

Julian Bond, a civil rights activist and longtime board chairman of the NAACP, has died. He was 75.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says in a statement that Bond died Saturday night in Fort Walton Beach, Florida after a brief illness.

The Nashville, Tenn. native was considered a symbol and icon of the 1960s civil rights movement.

As a Morehouse College student, Bond helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and as its communications director, he was on the front lines of protests that led to the nation’s landmark civil rights laws.

He later served as board chairman of the 500,000-member NAACP for 10 years but declined to run again for another one-year term in 2010.

Bond also served in the Georgia state legislature and was a professor at American University and the University of Virginia.

W.Va. Groups Stand with Michael Brown

A group of about 25 protestors gathered on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday with handmade signs chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” just as thousands of other activists gathered in large cities across the country. The group, while small in numbers, was there to show their support of Michael Brown, the black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, this summer.

On Monday, a Missouri prosecutor announced a grand jury would not indict the officer, Darren Wilson, on charges in the death, but a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the operations of the city’s police force is on going.

Greg Suzanne McAllister organized the Charleston protest which included members from multiple organizations including her fledging group Mothers of Color America, the NAACP, business owners and others.

“We just wanted to stand in solidarity today,” McAllister said. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

The Charleston protest was about more than just Brown and his death, McAllister said. It was also about standing for the unnamed African American men and women in West Virginia who have been gunned down by police.

“We know our people here are not immune to that type of discrimination,” she said. “It’s important that we stand together no matter what our race is against injustice.”

Greg Suzanne McAllister stands in front of the group gathered.

McAllister said the response in West Virginia to the Ferguson shooting was likely smaller because of the overall population, but also because of the lack of diversity. Only about 3 percent of the state’s population is African American.

Still, McAllister pointed to statistics that show West Virginia incarcerates African Americans at a much higher rate than whites in both the adult and juvenile justice system, meaning a change is necessary, she said.

The Three Ways the NAACP Says W.Va. Can Reduce Pollution and Create Jobs

Civil rights and environmental advocates gathered at the Capitol Thursday morning for the release of a new national report. The NAACP’s Just Energy…

Civil rights and environmental advocates gathered at the Capitol Thursday morning for the release of a new national report. The NAACP’s Just Energy Policies details ways states can reduce pollution and create jobs.

The West Virginia branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People suggested three ways West Virginia can become more environmentally friendly while helping low income families.

Make its renewable energy standard mandatory
Create an energy efficiency standard
Expand net metering practices

Net metering allows individuals to sell the energy they make through wind or solar back to electricity companies.

Jaqui Patterson is the director of the organization’s Environmental Climate and Justice Program.

“Out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, West Virginia ranked 13th in the list of state’s where rate payers spent the highest proportion of their income on electricity in 2012,” Jaqui Patterson said. She is the NAACP’s director of the Environmental Climate and Justice Program.

Patterson said low income families and people of color disproportionately pay a larger portion of their income toward energy bills.

By implementing their suggestions, Patterson believes the state could help the families who are hurt the most by West Virginia’s energy practices.