The NAACP 116th Annual National Convention: The Fierce Urgency of Now (Part 1 of 2)
NAACP Dane County Branch President Greg Jones speaks at the Murdered and Missing African American press conference at the WI State Capitol.
by Jonathan Gramling
For the past seven months, Civil Rights have been under assault by the Trump Administration, trying to purge the federal government — and state governments and corporations for that matter — of anything that remotely hints of diversity, equity and inclusion. Army bases have been renamed after Confederate generals and photos and stories of significant people of color have been deleted from federal websites. Ironically, the Office of Civil Rights has been turned into a mechanism to purge DEI efforts even as it drops cases of police reform in Minneapolis and Louisville among other places.
The National NAACP knows what time it is and so it selected as its theme ‘The Fierce Urgency of Now’ for its 116th National Convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“It is captured from Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, the I Have a Dream speech as well as Barack Obama’s campaign’s subtheme in 2008,” said Greg Jones, the president of the NAACP Dane County Branch. “When Martin Luther King used that theme in his speech, he basically was saying, ‘This is no time to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. We can’t wait to institute any of those programs, initiatives or policies that he and the civil rights movement were pursuing. When Barack Obama used that theme, he was really addressing a defining moment in our history, reflecting on the challenges that we then faced, economic challenge, social challenges and education challenge. The NAACP has taken up that theme and made it our vision statement going forward because the future of democracy is among this convention’s top priorities. We understand that we have to safeguard and advance those civil rights from every corner, from every neighborhood, from every city and from every state that is a part of the NAACP.”
Perhaps what was telling about the state of affairs and the war-like atmosphere was who wasn’t invited to the convention.
“We issued a statement in May where President Trump was not invited,” Jones said. “This was unusual for the NAACP to not invite someone from the present administration. When that email came out to everyone, I just wrote back to the media department saying, ‘Yeah!’”
Due to the relentless seven months of attacks, it seemed that there was no end in sight. But the convention bolstered the troops and got them ready to take the offensive.
“When we think about that theme, it really, in my mind, generated and fostered hope and vision of those delegates and attendees with that theme,” Jones said. “Most of us were there with some sense of despair and disappointment. But I left there feeling highly motivated, highly engaged and ready to go forward.”
It was in the courts — state and federal — where many of the “battles” of the modern Civil Rights Movement were fought starting with Brown v Board of Education. Although the terrain may not be as friendly, the courts are also the setting for the present battle over Civil Rights and Democracy.
“I just want to highlight some of the Constitutional cases that were brought forward during the conversation,” Jones said. “There was quite a bit of information presented on birthright citizenship cases that have either gone forward through the federal district courts or the Supreme Court. There were a lot of questions and answers from people in the audience wanting to thoroughly understand what birthright citizenship is about and to, more importantly, understand the probability and feasibility of the political actions behind the birthright citizenship issues that have gone forward. That was very informative and very instructive. I think the presentation by the attorneys on prosecutorial misconduct was quite enlightening and very interesting. Essentially, this particular presentation by the lawyers talked about how evidence can be withheld or is being withheld and what happens when that evidence is being withheld in cases that might be in front of a judge. That does contribute to disparities in the legal system. In fact, they used examples where there was prosecutorial misconduct when assistant DAs have been found in violation of withholding evidence. This attorney talked about how it was a concerning issue that is really affecting justice when it comes to those cases reaching the courts.”
The legal battlefront also extends to religion and public education and the establishment clause in the U.S. Constitution.
“Another area that I found interesting was Religious Freedom and Public Education,” Jones said. “There are cases that are surfacing. Some have reached district courts around the country. There is a movement to bring religion into public education. It reminded us of the old days when there was prayer in schools and there was a religious tone particularly in the South. This gentleman reminded us that we are now in a zone where there is a new movement to bring religion back into the public schools. In some states, they are moving towards statutory guidelines moving in that direction. They said that this was a warning. They are watching it and keeping their eye on it. It’s always interesting to hear about some of the high level issues and cases that are in front of federal district courts and in some cases, the U.S. Supreme Court.”