On June 18, 1964 a white hotel owner in St. Augustine, Florida, poured acid in a swimming pool filled with black and white youth conducting a civil rights demonstration. Photographs of this horrific incident were on the front page of every major newspaper around the world and broke the filibuster in the Senate allowing President Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act into law. With rarely seen news footage and revealing interviews, “Dare Not Walk Alone” uncovers the untold story of the St. Augustine movement that led to this historic legislation. But far from a history lesson, the film also looks at the aftermath of desegregation and the grim realities of life today on streets where those campaigns were fought, in a place that symbolizes what Barack Obama has called “the gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of our time.” This film has been called the “Civil Rights film for the modern age” and in the end we see signs of hope and reconciliation as well as a challenge to take the next step forward.

Click here to view the embedded video.

An award-winning film, “Dare Not Walk Alone” has screened at numerous festivals, including the Atlanta Film Festival, Cinequest Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Jacksonville Film Festival, Sarasota International Film Festival, Connecticut Film Festival, San Francisco Black Film Festival, and the Western New York Black Film Festival. The film received the Audience Award from Deep Focus Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975.  Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Special support for Southern Circuit is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more information on the Southern Arts Federation and its programs visit www.southarts.org.

The film is the first in the series. Addition films will be shown at the museum in October and November. The spring tour will take place at Austin Peay University. While all films are free, donations will be accepted for this and other film programming. Vanderbilt University is also participating in the Southern Circuit Tour. Their first screening is September 17th at 7 pm with the film “Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and B.Y.O. Records.”

The Customs House Museum is located at 200 South Second Street in Historic downtown Clarksville. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission to the museum is $5 adults, $4 senior citizens, $2 college students, $1 ages 6 to 18, and under 6 free. Information on exhibits and events can be found at www.customshousemuseum.org.

Celebrating 100 Years of Social Justice

On September 5, 2009 Civil Rights Leaders from across the nation will gather on the grounds of the Memorial Building Mayors Office at 202 Center Avenue in Dickson, Tennessee for an all day rally from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Dickson is home to one of the worst Environmental Racism cases in the history of the United States. The Holt family has been fighting for the past 10 years to bring justice and awareness to the contaminated water leaked from the county landfill. For years, the family unknowingly drank poisoned water, bathed in that water, and cooked with that water which has resulted in numerous members of the family developing cancer and even dying.

National NAACP President, Benjamin Jealous, the Reverend Joseph Lowery, Reverend Al Sharpton and a coalition of over 30 prominent speakers, activists, clergy, elected officials and scholars have been invited and are scheduled to speak at this rally and tour the landfill site.

“Join us in our efforts to bring further awareness and justice to this local and national problem of Environmental Racism, a Public Health issue that continues to disproportionately plague minority communities and poor families across the United States” – Terry McMoore, Media Agent

For more information

Contact one of the people below:

• Jimmie Garland Sr., Vice President, Tennessee State NAACP (931) 216-6745
• Pastor Jerry Jerkins, Rally Organizer & Coordinator – (931) 220-1522

The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

Harry Burn was a first-term Republican state representative from McMinn county, the youngest Tennessee state legislator serving in 1920 when women’s suffrage hung in the balance in our state. Back then, only one state was needed to ratify the Nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution, an amendment that would give women the right to vote. Like many legislators at the time, Representative Burn was under extreme pressure from sexist politicians back home to oppose the amendment, to keep women “in their place”. Some even believed that Rep. Burn was a safe bet to vote against suffrage, since he wore a red rose on his lapel, a color then (and now) that represented exclusion and disenfranchisement. But as the pivotal vote approached, the opponents of inclusion did not know that Representative Burn carried in his coat pocket a letter from his widowed mother urging him to vote for ratification. When his name was called, Harry Burn voted “yes”, the single deciding vote that ratified – for our entire nation – the Nineteenth Amendment.

Ben West was the Mayor of Nashville in 1960, when Black college students began a series of lunch-counter sit-ins in segregated department stores that were just among the many pillars of the Jim Crow South. For months, those students had been arrested and hauled off to jail. As a result, the Black community had boycotted Nashville stores and Whites had also stayed away, crippling the downtown Nashville economy. Tensions had risen to the point where the home and church of Reverend Alexander Looby, a civil rights leader, had been bombed, sending him to the hospital. Responding to that violence, thousands of Nashvillians marched to City Hall where Mayor West met them. One young Fisk student, Diane Nash, spoke quietly that day to Mayor West and pleaded with him to use the prestige of his office to end racial segregation. Mayor West’s response was simple and direct: “Yes, young lady, I will do that.” Years later, Ben West said that, at that moment, he had said the only thing that any moral person could say – that he had answered as a God-fearing man, and not as a politician. The next day, the Nashville Banner’s headline said it all “INTEGRATE COUNTERS – MAYOR”. Within a month, all Nashville lunch-counters were integrated and, with that positive role-model in the heart of the South, Jim Crow’s racist days were numbered.

That brings us to Senator Tim Burchett, a Knoxville Republican and the bravest and most patriotic man I know in our fair state today. For the past three years, Tennessee voters have been working hard to correct a serious error in how we conduct our elections here. In 2006, Tennessee wasted over $30 million in federal funds to purchase touch-screen voting machines (also called Direct Record Electronic machines, or DREs), voting machines that are slow, expensive and – worst of all – incapable of being audited or recounted. These machines have been implicated in a plethora of election fraud incidents across our country, and state after state has made the decision to ban these machines in favor of paper ballots. Tennessee was one of those states when we passed the TN Voter Confidence Act last year on a 92-3 vote in our House and a 32-0 vote in our Senate to replace those non-verifiable machines with paper ballots by the 2010 elections.

But when the Republican Party unexpectedly took control of our state legislature in 2008, one of the first things their leaders announced was that they intended to weaken, delay or repeal the Voter Confidence Act. For the past five months, a small band of Tennessee voters has traveled daily to our legislature and has witnessed a highly partisan and divided legislature, with most Democrats in favor of implementing the Voter Confidence Act as intended and most Republicans in favor of our continuing to vote on insecure and untrustworthy DREs. Since Republicans now control our General Assembly (for the first time since Reconstruction), we knew that the prospects for protecting our franchise were in peril.

Yesterday evening, as our Senate debated long and hard about a bill to delay implementation of the Voter Confidence Act until 2012 and to gut the law’s election audit provisions, it was clear that the vote would be close and split along party lines. When the final vote was cast, the tally was 16-14 to delay democracy by postponing the implementation of the Voter Confidence Act until 2012. At first, we were crest-fallen, thinking that we had lost. But then one of us remembered that it takes 17 votes in the Senate for a law to pass, and with only 16 votes, the measure had failed. When we looked up at the vote board, we could see that all Democrats had voted to keep the Voter Confidence Act on-track for 2010 (except one, who had abstained) and all Republicans had voted to delay and weaken democracy. All of them, that is, except one. Senator Tim Burchett, a man who has been steadfast and vocal in his support for free, fair and verifiable elections for the past three years; and whose singular vote last night in opposition to the rest of his party allowed democracy to prevail in our state.

Thank you, Senator Burchett. Your intelligence, courage and sense of honor and fairness are what this country was built on, and what we must have in order for this nation to survive. Like Atticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird”, your singular bravery has helped keep us free. And like the Black citizens who filled the courtroom gallery in that long-ago movie, I will, from this day forward, stand up when you enter a room. Because I will know that I am in the presence of a modern-day patriot, the latest in a long line of American heros who sprang from the hills of our Tennessee when they were needed to help keep our nation strong and safe — and free. Yesterday, you saved our democracy.

Bernie Ellis, Organizer
Gathering To Save Our Democracy

The event, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the Urban Resource Center and its director, Terry McMoore, in partnership with the Center for Community Change.

Over the next 5 years a half a billion dollars in job training money will be coming to Clarksville. Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) will open a new plant in Clarksville that will hire over 1,000 construction workers to build, and provide over 800 permanent high paying jobs when they open. HSC will be one of the richest employers in Clarksville’s history since the arrival of Fort Campbell in the 1940s.
Under the President’s Economic Recovery Bill, states and counties are poised to receive significant federal funding to stimulate the economy and put people back to work. These are just some of the issues that will be discussed at this community forum.

Initial response from the community and some elected officials has been strong.  community and several elected officials who will be in attendance, including State Senator Tim Barnes and NAACP President Jimmie Garland Sr. are planning to attend this session.

McMoore was asked to hold this meeting by the Washington D.C.-based  Center for Community Change, who will be facilitating most of the meeting.

Ms. Evonne Tisdale, the South East Regional Team Leader for the Center for Community Change, is  in Nashville and has already touched base with the Governor’s office on this issue; she held a  meeting with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean,  who is eagerly awaiting the final plan and proposal from the Nashville African American community.

New job opportunities for Clarksville-Montgomery County targeted populations include:

• High School graduates
• College graduates
• Veterans or members of the reserve forces
• Homeless individuals
• Non-violent ex-felons
• Low-income individuals

This falls right in line with the recently signed into law Economic Recovery Bill. Under the President’s Economic Recovery Bill, states and counties are poised to receive significant federal funding to stimulate the economy and put people back to work.

McMoore wants the community to understand that this bill is intended for all Americans and this meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend. It took people from all races and nationalities to get this far in first ending slavery, and years later stopping Jim Crow laws which eventually led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The country came together to say “enough is enough.” That demand for change resulted in the election of the first African American president in the history of our nation. But there is still work to be done, and by community dialog and working together can we will someday achieve the true meaning of our constitution.

Pastors, Business Owners and the Community-at -Large: are you prepared to have a place at the table right now while there are still jobs and money available? How and what this money is spent on is important to the survival of our communities; these are the jobs of the future and they pay good salaries.

Contact Person for this release is Mr. Terry McMoore at  (931) 378-1999

Ms. Evonne Tisdale, South East Regional Team Leader, Center for Community Change can be reached at Email: or at (615) 469-5220 in Nashville, or at
http://www.communitychange.org/

Statement on the historic election of Michael Steele as RNC Chairman:

The NAACP congratulates the Republican National Committee (RNC) on the historic election of Michael Steele as its new Chairman. Mr. Steele is an experienced, principled leader and a friend of the NAACP. He has been supportive, over the years, of civil rights issues and has worked on behalf of affirmative action initiatives that support closing the gap of economic disparities that exist nationwide.

Michael S. Steele, newly elected RNC Chair

The NAACP looks forward to working with Mr. Steele and the RNC to ensure that the promise of this country is made real for all Americans.

“As we approach the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, let us hope that Steele’s election as chairman of the RNC signals the Grand Old Party is headed back to the future,” said President & CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

The March after leaving Public Square

Today, Martin Luther King’s fight for equality and justice was commemorated with a a parade that culminated with  formal ceremonies at Public Square in downtown Clarksville, and in front of the Criminal Justice Complex.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. He is an icon in the history of human rights.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career, leading  the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. He co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president.

King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, raising public consciousness of the civil rights movement and establishing himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective.

City Councilor Candy Johnson in the foreground

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986. If King were alive today, he would be 80 years old.

Sunday night, President-elect Barack Obama stood before the seated Lincoln in the (President Abraham) Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., fulfilling a dream as he overlooked the land where King stood when he made his famous speech “I have a dream” speech.

The dream is here, and in Clarksville, today’s celebration was a mix of our historical past and our future of change.

Clarksville Women For Obama

Celebration marks 88th anniversary of passage of 19th Amendment. Tennessee’s ratification, as the 33rd state to do so, made the law effective. Many women made great sacrifices to make this legislation the law of the land. It is one of many fronts in the struggle for civil rights.

WomenForObama held a celebratory commemoration of the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It was the 19th Amendment which gave women in the United States the right to vote. The Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters was the celebration site with a roster of prominent local women speakers who addressed the significance of women suffrage and civil rights in the furtherance of the American Ideal.

Motivational speaker Cindy Pitts with moderator Wanda McMoore

Wanda McMoore was the event moderator. As a mother, nurse, military service veteran and community organizer, she was a prime example of the women in times past who have fought for equality and justice while still balancing the demands of a family and career. She introduced each speaker and kept the event moving along on schedule.

Elizabeth Valdez-Adamski is from the Dominican Republic. She spoke of her childhood memories of being regarded as an outsider, a foreigner, because her skin was different and because she spoke with an accent. Her parents legally immigrated to the United States and worked hard to provide for their children. Yet she saw them suffer discrimination, prejudice and even denial. She has worked against those evils all her adult life as a community organizer. In her native country, it was women, the mothers, who waged the civil rights battles against their oppressive government. She told the gathering that more than anything else, government officials fear an active, involved citizenry. They fear it more than any terrorist threat. Citizens apathy and indifference actually work to a controlling government’s favor. To prevent this, every citizen has a responsibility to be engaged and watchful of its government.

Ms Laverne Walker addresses Women's Suffrage 88th Anniversary Commemoration

LaVerne Walker has made a career as an Equal Opportunity specialist and consultant. Her presentation was an acknowledgment of the women who had come before her in the struggle for civil rights. She told the gathering of women who fought, not just for women’s right to vote, but for universal civil rights when it was not a popular argument.

Walker pointed out that the struggle for women’s suffrage itself was born out of the struggle for voting rights for former slaves. Women of Color have played prominent roles in the fight for civil rights and for women suffrage. These women were often leading voices in those battles. This was particularly so in the Black community.

Isabella Baumfree is an unassuming name. She is better known as Sojurner Truth – and was a civil rights activist born in Ulster County, New York. Her given surname meant “tall as a tree,” which was appropriate – she grew to be 6 feet tall. Baumfree claimed that she talked to God quite often, which inspired her to go out and spread His word throughout the countryside.

In the 1840s abolitionists convinced Baumfree to work with them to end slavery. She used her oratorical skills and God’s “inner inspiration” to deliver the message that slavery should be ended. This inspired her to take the name “Sojourner Truth” because she said God told her to be a sojourner on the earth and to tell the truth. Both before and after the Emancipation Proclamation, Sojourner Truth remained a fervent black rights activist. She urged freedmen to educate themselves and pressed for rehabilitation of former slaves on Western U.S. soil. In her famous, “Ain’t I A Woman?” speech, she took direct aim at white women suffragists opposed to Black women also getting the right to vote.This exposed the racial prejudice within the womens’ suffrage movement. Ultimately, it served to advance Black suffrage and made Black women vested partners in the womens’ movement as well.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett sketch drawing

Ida B. Wells, who was a daughter of slaves, became a teacher. It was while teaching near Memphis, that she bought a half-interest in the Memphis Free Speech. She used the paper to denounce lynchings, and to urge blacks to boycott streetcars and to migrate west. The paper’s office was destroyed by a mob in 1882. After refusing a seat in a Jim Crow car, Wells carried an unsuccessful suit to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1887. Under the pen name of “Iola” she criticized the inadequacy of schools for blacks. The Memphis school board dismissed her from her job in 1891. In 1895, she married Ferdinand Lee Barnett, editor of the Chicago Conservator. A daughter, Alfreda, published her mother’s autobiography with the title, Crusade for Justice. Wells-Barnett was secretary of the National Afro-American Council in 1898. On February 12, 1909, she signed “The Call to Discuss Means for Securing Political and Civil Equality for the Negro.” As a result of that call, the Committee of Forty was formed (including Wells-Barnett). It led directly to the founding of the NAACP on May 12, 1910.

Sarah Breedlove, who is better known as Madame C J Walker, was one of America’s first Black woman millionaire. She built her financial empire on Black hair care products. In 1910 she settled in Indianapolis and established her Madam C J Walker Laboratories to produce her line of products and train her sales beauticians. Later she moved to New York city where she quickly became involved in the social and political life of the Harlem Renaissance. She became an ardent anti-lynching advocate, becoming an active supporter of the NAACP’s anti-lynching campaign.

Septima Poinsette Clark, of Charleston, S.C., was another pioneering woman civil rights advocate. She waged her battle long before the Voting Rights Act of 1964. In 1956 she was fired by the Charleston Board of Education when she refused to give up her membership in the NAACP. She came to Tennessee, joining the Highlander Folk School and along with Bernice Robinson, developed Citizenship Schools which taught Blacks how to read, write, fill out driver’s license exams, voter registration forms, Sears mail order forms and how to sign checks. These schools were a response to legislation in Southern states which required literacy and interpreting various portions of the US Constitution in order to be allowed to register to vote. These laws were used to disenfranchise black citizens. Citizenship Schools also taught students to act collectively and protest against racism. One her students was Rosa Parks. A teacher herself, she was a lifelong advocate for education, for Black people registering to vote and exercising their rights as American citizens, as guaranteed under the Constitution. She believed in Black women taking leadership roles in the struggle for civil rights.

Linda Barnes, a English instructor at APSU, said she tries to be sensitive to her female students, encouraging them to strive to excel in their studies and be strong individuals in themselves and their communities. Womanhood in America is no easy thing and these young women need to be aware of what struggles and sacrifices have gone before them to allow them to stand as they do now. Such encouragement was shown to her and she strives to ‘pay it forward,’ as it were, in acknowledging that debt.

Cindy Pitts is a motivational speaker. She is also the wife of State Rep. Joe Pitts. She uses her own life as a wife, mother, and professional women in addressing the various audiences she is called upon to address. The world view that women possess is often more complex than many men would admit or suspect. Denying citizens their civil rights because of gender, ethnicity, education level, marital status, socio-economic status or political party affiliation are all wrong.

Rejection of efforts to limit citizens’ supervision of their government was the foundation upon which this nation was built. How could we possibly propose to resort to such shameful human rights violations? Women are well aware of what hardships life can bestow. The power of committed women has shown the world the way out of many a despot’s suffocating grip.

The women who fought for women suffrage were such courageous women. Arguments they espoused in their struggle still resonate in today’s world. Women around the world envy the rights women enjoy in the United States. However, American women are not home free on the equality front. We all must remain committed to advancing human rights around our global community. The ballot is the key to that struggle. And, it belongs to every adult man and woman.

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(Non-bylined photos by Turner McCullough Jr.)

NAACP Hosts 62nd Annual State Convention in Clarksville, TN

The Saturday session of the conference begins at 7:30 a.m. with a breakfast for W. I. N. (Women in the NAACP) and the youth. After breakfast, the conference continues with a variety of workshops for both adults and youth. At noon there will be an awards luncheon followed by more workshops. The evening concludes with the Freedom Awards Banquet beginning at 6:30 p.m.

NAACP Tennessee State Conference of Branches President Mrs. Gloria J. Sweet-Love made the anouncement, which is presented here:

We gather here this morning in this historic “Queen City” to announce that the Clarksville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will host the 62nd Annual State Convention of the Tennessee State Conference NAACP.

The Tennessee State Conference NAACP in coalition with, the mayors of Clarksville and Montgomery County, Business and Corporate Partners, Governmental Entities, Members of Organized Labor and NAACP Officials and members from across this great state come to announce that your city has been chosen to host our Annual Convention.  The Convention Hotel is the Riverview Inn, located at 501 College St, in Clarksville.

Today, our country faces some enormous challenges:

• Ending the disastrous war in Iraq
• Getting our economy back on the right track
• Combating catastrophic climate change
• Addressing an energy crisis, that is putting the squeeze on too many poor & middle class families in America

Today, because we don’t have a living wage, many workers barely make enough per hour to buy a gallon of gas.  Because we have buried our heads in the sand and failed to address “Environmental Racism:”

• Families in our counties and across our state are dying from chemical contamination caused by illegal and irresponsible land fill
• Poor disposal practices that have contaminated soil and water where our people must live and inadequate Health Care continues to fuel Health disparities in our community

We have come because we must have a “living wage” for every worker, we must protect workers “Right to Organize!” and we must work to change the “Employment at will” laws of this state that are both unfair and outdated.

The Events for Thursday, September 25th will be held at the Fifth Ward Baptist Church located at 900 Franklin Street, in Clarksville.

Delegates from across the state will convene for fellowship, training and motivation. Featured speakers for the Convention’s Health/Religious Emphasis Day will include panelists Rev. James Thomas, Rev. Tommy Vallejos, Rev. Jerry Jerkins, Dr. Simi Vincent, Dr. James Hilbert, Dr. Hildreth. Panelists include Rev. Delbert Brown and Rev. Raymond Bowman. Rev. Enoch Fuzz of the Nashville Branch has been invited to moderate the Religious Forum that will focus on the Faith Community and NAACP’s role in addressing and combating social issues. These issues include but are not limited to health disparities, economics and get out the vote.

Rev. R.W. Sibert, President of Missionary Baptist State Convention of Tennessee and pastor of Walnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Murfreesboro will be the keynote speaker for the Religious Affairs/Membership Luncheon.  The forum will continue after the luncheon.

Thursday’s activities will culminate with the Mass Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Faith Out Reach Church located at 731 Windermere Drive.  Rev. Dr. Julius C. Hope, Director of the National NAACP Religious Affairs Department and pastor of the New Grace Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, will be the keynote speaker. The delegates and guest will be served a “Soul Food Dinner” after the services.

On Friday morning, September 26th at Austin Peay State University, Mr. Fred Redmon, International President of Human Affairs for United Steel Workers from Washington, D.C.,  will be the keynote speaker for the Labor & Industry Breakfast. A workshop immediately following the breakfast will focus on labor and industry issues across the state of Tennessee and the nation. Also scheduled for Friday will be the Human Rights luncheon and a Labor Town Hall Meeting, which will take place at the Riverview Inn.

On Friday evening will go back Austin Peay State University where the Youth & College Division will host a Senatorial Debate with candidates for the Tennessee Senate Race.

On Saturday, September 27th all activities will be held at Austin Peay State University.  Dr. Maxine Smith, National Board Member and renowned Civil Rights activist, author and educator from Memphis, Tennessee, will be the featured speaker for the Women In NAACP breakfast. This program will also feature a “Hat Show” by local celebrities and delegates.  The NAACP Youth & College Division will host its annual Vernon Jarrett Youth Awards luncheon at noon on Saturday.

That evening, the Convention will end with the Freedom Awards Banquet at 6:30 p.m.. The invited speaker is newly elected President/CEO for the NAACP, Mr. Benjamin Todd Jealous.

The Tennessee State Conference of NAACP is headquartered in Jackson, Tennessee,  at 27 Brentshire Square, and services more than 45 Adult Branches and 22 Youth and College Chapter across the State of Tennessee.

Founded in 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

Attending the announcement  program were local chapter President Jimmie Garland; NAACP Officers & Members; Mayors Piper & Bowers; Co-Chairs  Rev. Frank Washington and Rev. Jerry Jerkins; members of the clergy, commissioners, council persons, and other elected officials.

For Additional Information Contact: Gloria J. Sweet-Love @ (731) 660-5580, Fax: (731) 660-5002, or E-Mail @

Photos by: Terry McMoore

New NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous

Benjamin Todd Jealous is president-elect of the NAACP, the nations oldest civil rights organization. When he assumes office in September 2008, the former news executive, activist and Rhodes scholar will be the youngest president and CEO in the organization’s 99-year history.

Currently, Jealous is President of the Rosenberg Foundation, a private independent institution that supports advocacy efforts on behalf of California’s working families. Under his leadership, the Foundation has significantly expanded its support of groups working to expand employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people, as well as those that work to make economic development in the Bay Area more accountable to local residents’ needs.

Previously, Jealous served as Director of the U.S. Human Rights Program at Amnesty International. While at Amnesty, he led its efforts to pass federal legislation against prison rape, rebuild public consensus against racial profiling in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and expose the widespread sentencing of children to life without the possibility of parole.

He is the lead author of the 2004 report Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States, the release of which received coverage by major media outlets in most states and on six continents.

Jealous, whose parents have been civil rights activists since the 1950s, organized his first voter registration drive at age 14. At age 18, he began working for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund as a community organizer in Harlem.

At age 21, Jealous moved to Mississippi to work as a field organizer as part of a successful campaign to stop the state’s plan to close two of its three public historically black universities, and convert one of them into a prison. During that time, he took a job at the Mississippi’s Jackson Advocate newspaper investigating human rights abuses. His reporting for the frequently firebombed weekly paper was credited with exposing corruption amongst high-ranking officials at the state prison in Parchman. His investigations also helped to acquit a black small farmer who had been wrongfully and maliciously accused of arson.

He soon became Managing Editor at the Advocate, and eventually went on to serve as Executive Director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 black community newspapers. While at the NNPA, he rebuilt its 90-year old national news service and launched a web-based initiative that more than doubled the number of black newspapers publishing online.

Active in civic life, Jealous is a board member of the California Council for the Humanities, PowerPAC, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and a member of the Asia Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a master’s degree in comparative social research from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is married to Lia Epperson Jealous, a professor of constitutional law and former civil rights litigator with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. They presently reside in Alameda, CA with their two-year old daughter, Morgan.

In the article, Egelko outlines how George and three other California Supreme Court justices pulled from another marriage quality issue from history, interracial marriage:

George’s same-sex ruling relied heavily on the court’s 1948 decision on interracial marriage, written by a renowned liberal, Justice Roger Traynor. No other state’s court had ever recognized a constitutional right for interracial couples to marry, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not do so until 1967.

A lesson from that case, George said in the interview, was that laws denying “certain basic rights could not be justified just because of history and tradition.”

He recalled a trip with his parents to the still-segregated South as a teenager, when he was shocked to see whites-only signs on drinking fountains and restroom doors.

“It sensitized me to the fact there are minorities of all sorts of types who can be victimized by the majority,” George said. Protecting vulnerable minorities, he said, is “one of the purposes of the courts and of our Constitution.”

When I read the above paragraph, I had to stop and consider just what Justice George was really saying. Quite simply, he said that the Constitution guarantees protection for vulnerable minorities. This in itself is a hotly debated point, especially in regard to immigrants and sexual orientation.

When the California decision was announced, conservatives immediately decried “activist judges” who “defied the people.” Well, this is exactly what was said when Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision was handed down in the landmark Lawrence v Texas decision. that struck down all of the sodomy laws in the US. They were “activist judges” (interestingly, both Kennedy and George were appointed by Republicans).

Both men and their respective majorities in their courts knew a simple fact: Sometimes, the people are wrong. The people were wrong to separate blacks and whites in the South. The people were wrong to deny basic civil rights. The people were wrong to pass laws banning the private sex lives of adults, and they were wrong to pass a resolution in California to ban same-sex marriage.

I heard a phrase not too long ago that illustrated this better than anything: the Constitution is a way to protect against the Tyranny of the Majority. I’ll define this phrase: oppressive rule by majority, where the minority has little or no rights.

This is a phrase that isn’t used very often, but when it is used, it’s profound. Alexander Hamilton warned against allowing this kind of “majority rules no matter what” mindset, and was one of a few men who knew just what the dangers were of a pure democracy. In fact, the dangers of a tyrannical majority were so clear to our framers, that they designed our constitution for a republic, not a democracy.

That’s right. The United States of America is not a democracy. It never has been. It is, quite simply, a republic. It is, however, a republic which includes a great many democratic elements, which is why there’s such a balance.

I won’t bore anyone with an extended civics lesson, but our government has three branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary. As most Americans know, the executive branch of the Federal government is headed by the President and his cabinet. The legislative branch includes both houses of Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives). The judiciary branch has the Supreme Court at its highest level.

These three branches offer a brilliant level of checks and balances which has been the “great experiment” in world affairs, and has been an effective system since the Constitution was adopted back in 1787. It’s been amended only 27 times since then, most notably with the Bill of Rights in 1791, which includes the all-important First Amendment.

Even before the First Amendment, the Constitution did a great job of protecting against the Tyranny of the Majority, but most Americans felt like it needed to be crystal clear about individual rights. After all, what minority is smaller than the individual?

Just for fun, I’ll ask people to name at least three of the five protections of the First Amendment. Most people can name one or two. Three is a stretch. VERY few can name all five:

• Freedom of Religion
  (Individual religious expression & a ban on state-sponsored religion)
• Freedom of Speech
• Freedom of the Press
• Right to peaceably assemble
• Right to petition the government

The first amendment is one of the most powerful and is easily the most important in the entire document, especially when in regards to the tyranny of the majority. The simple reality is this: the majority, while they might have the most numbers, might not always have the high moral or legal ground. In other words, the majority isn’t always right!

We learned this better than ever during the civil rights movement. Here’s a simple truth: civil rights would never have come if not for a handful of judges who took the law in their own hands. A lot of conservatives are quick to point out how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by a majority vote in Congress, so the will of the people can pass laws like this, they claim. However, that historic act would never have been passed if segregation hadn’t already been struck down by the Supreme Court with its historic Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954.

The only exception to this would be the Women’s Suffrage movement, which passed by legislative vote and popular vote, to be added to the constitution in 1919. However, I’m not really sure if women would be considered a “minority” by this definition. Repressed, yes. Minority, no. Especially today, where there are actually more girls born than boys.

So what kind of minorities might be oppressed? In the US alone, there are countless religious minorities (anything other than Christian), ethnic groups, national origin, racial minorities (especially African and Latino Americans), those with disabilities, and sexual orientation and gender identity.

It’s that last one that draws the most heated debate today, with the argument that a person’s sexual behavior is their own choice, and should not be allowed as a minority. Unfortunately, this argument overlooks the reality that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity isn’t a “behavior,” it’s something much deeper, and is in many cases not a choice at all.

Other arguments against listing sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected minorities is that a person’s sexual orientation isn’t identifiable outwardly. A gay or lesbian person can’t be identified by their appearance like an African-American or a Latino-American can. While this is true, it leaves out one major point: A person’s religion is unquestionably a choice, and is guaranteed protections by the Constitution. Why shouldn’t a person’s sexual orientation – which may NOT be a choice – be included in these simple protections?

It’s this kind of argument that our constitution and government was formed to dismiss, with an effort to stifle a growth of a tyrannical majority. Our framers knew than as we know now that power corrupts. When a majority—of any kind—has power, then it can be corrupted.

Thankfully there are heroic men like California Chief Justice Ronald George and US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy who are willing to put an end to this kind of tyranny by declaring that all minorities are indeed equal, and should be treated as such.

Previously published on Skipping to the Piccolo.

Wolf enters a male-dominated political commentary arena dominated by men to make a compelling argument for civil rights. Her analysis falls closer to the bones of political discourse as presented by Emma Goldman, and presents her case with an energetic urgency as she cautions Americans of a dangerous “fascist shift” brought about by the Bush administration.

Chapters outline the “Ten Steps to Fascism” citing historical corollaries (as well as the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm), with headings like “Invoke an External and Internal Threat,” “Establish Secret Prisons,” “Surveil Ordinary Citizens,” “Restrict the Press,” and “Target Key Individuals,” making a case for the existence of fascism outside of a dictatorship.

Her book’s publication through the small press, Chelsea Green Publishing of White River Junction, Vermont, which is committed to politics and “sustainable living.” Here is Naomi Wolf, speaking out an this October 2007 videotaping.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in response to a complaint filed by the Clarksville NAACP found numerous flaws in the Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan voted into law by the City Council with full support of Mayor Johnny Piper.

HUD authorities could not find any proposed objectives that would provide protection for low to moderate income residents and their property mentioned in the voted on ordinance.

The Clarksville NAACP first bought these issues to the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and HUD after feeling that the civil rights and the federally protected rights of the Majority Minority Voting Ward was in jeopardy of being dismantled under this voted on redevelopment plan.

The redevelopment plan offer tax increment financing (tax abatements) to encourage private development, and is focused on the downtown area, Kraft and College Streets. In a comparison with the city’s Five Year Consilidated Plan for Housing and Community Development, HUD field office director William Dirl determined that while the city’s five year plan has a goal of increasing affordable housing, the new redevelopment plan had no “proposed objective to assist with this priority and to provide housing rehabilitation to eligible property owners.”

The consolidated plan is drafted by the city with community input, and approved by HUD. No federal funds can be used for projects lacking HUD approval of falling within HUD parameters.

After an extensive investigation and a thorough review of the Clarksville Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan and after consultation with numerous government agencies, William H. Dirl, Field Office Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Nashville was able to determine the flaws of the redevelopment plan and issued a few recommendations to the City of Clarksville in writing.

Clarksville NAACP President Jimmie Garland Sr. had asked HUD to review the plan, citing concerns about the ” detrimental effect” this plan would have on the poor, elderly and (minority) residents” of the downtown district.

Dirl addressed that concern in his response:

“We could not find any proposed objective to assist with this priority and to provide housing rehabilitation to eligible property owners. We will recommend that an objective be included to provide housing rehabilitation assistance to eligible housing units. This should greatly relieve fears that housing units not meeting minimum codes standards will be immediately considered for demolition.”

It is hoped that the Clarksville City Council and Mayor Piper will work diligently to insure that the equal rights and civil rights of all individuals are protected under this ordinance regardless of race, creed, nationality or socially economic status.

This Community Press Release provided courtesy of the Urban Resource Center and Mr. Terry McMoore (931) 378-1999. Any and all questions about the NAACP should be referred to NAACP President Jimmie Garland Sr. (931) 216-6745.

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/06/04/hud-finds-flaws-in-clarksville-redevelopment-plan/feed/ 2 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/21/naacp-springfield-branch-reactivation-underway/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/21/naacp-springfield-branch-reactivation-underway/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:02:32 +0000 Turner McCullough Jr. http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=4677 Clarksville Branch officials support neighboring branch efforts

The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Springfield Branch is currently undergoing a reactivation and reorganization effort. The branch had lapsed into an inactive status. However, citizens recently have expressed their desire to see the branch once again active and engaged in local affairs as an advocate and watchdog for their civil rights.

Rev. Gardner with Terry McMoore and Jimmie M. Garland Sr. of Clarksville Branch NAACP.

Rev. James Gardner, president of the Springfield Branch, conducted the meeting. The reactivation meeting was attended by more than sixty citizens. He thanked those attending. He stated that the main objective at this point is to increase the membership level to the critical threshold for activation as a viable branch. Due to recent constitution changes, branches are now required to have a minimum of 100 members for activation.

Rev. Gardner stated that a primary interest of Springfield citizens is the equitable distribution of taxpayer dollars in providing city services such as sidewalks, street lights, parks, recreation and/or community centers. He said that some citizens had expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of sidewalks in the Southside and Westside communities, while seeing the provision of these amenities in other more affluent areas of the city. There was also concerns with the lack of adequate street lights in the aforementioned minority communities. While more affluent areas of the city seem to have no problems getting this city service, minority citizens are at a lost to understand this disparity in regards to their own community. Gardner then stated that “all residents should feel that their government hears and heeds all inquiries about government services.”

Representing the Tennessee State Conference of NAACP Branches and the Clarksville Branch were State Conference 3rd Vice-President and Clarksville Branch President Jimmie M. Garland Sr. and Branch First Vice-President Rev. James Hill. Garland addressed the gathering, encouraging their continued efforts to reactivate their branch. Garland noted that a review of the local government structure might well reveal a disparity in school system suspension rates, and likewise a review of jail incarceration rates might display a similar disparity in the make-up of inmates. Garland said there is clearly defined “Cradle to Prison” syndrome being impacted upon the minority community. Young minority males, both Black and Hispanic/Latino, are finding themselves routed out of the social mainstream, via suspensions in the education system into the juvenile and adult judicial/incarceration system, at devastating rates. Additionally, he stressed that a review of the heads of local government agencies will likely show a disparity in positions of leadership. “All of these points are areas of concern and interest to you and the NAACP.”

He noted that the history of the NAACP is borne out of a desire and struggle for equal treatment in America’s bounty. The fight against discrimination which so many Americans, not just Blacks, but also Native Americans, Jews, Chinese, Irish, Catholics, Hindus, Arabs, Persians, Italians, Hispanics and Latinos, the handicapped and the disabled, the immigrant- regardless of status, and the GLBT community, have suffered at one time or another has been championed by the NAACP. Equality and fairness are the main goals of the NAACP’s struggle. “As much as we would like to see the day when we don’t have to make that argument, THAT day is not yet here.”

Garland said the Tennessee State Convention would be held in Clarksville in September and invited the Springfield Branch to co-host along with the Dickson and other neighboring area branches. He added that this would be an excellent opportunity for a newly initiated Youth Council to meet and network with other Youth Council chapters from across the state as well.

First Vice-President Rev. James Hill spoke of the shared health interests between Springfield and Clarksville. He heads up CAMTAN, Clarksville Area Ministers Technical Assistance Network, a HIV/AIDS assistance and support network, which serves clients in both Clarksville and Springfield. The organization provides assistance and support to HIV/AIDS victims. The lack of funding to communities beyond the Greater Metro-Nashville population places many of these victims in adverse situations of alienation, abuse, neglect, homelessness and an inability to obtain the medical care vital to their very survival. Additionally, CAMTAN is also active in increasing awareness of STDs. He said that the statistics for infection rates of STD’s and HIV/AIDS in the Springfield/Clarksville and greater area represent an underreported population that will only increase the need for treatment. Many people who are infected with HIV are not even aware of their condition. The infection rate for STDs such as Chlamydia, Syphilis are on a rampant upswing in our area. Statistics show that women, especially Black women, are bearing the brunt of the HIV infection upswing. Rev. Hill told the group that CAMTAN serves Robertson, Chetam, Stewart, Dickson, and Montgomery counties and is not a government funded agency.

Terry McMoore spoke to the group as the past press and publicity person for the Clarksville branch. He encouraged the group to continue in their effort and said that their mayor had issued a press statement saying, “As long the leaders and membership are the right make-up, the NAACP is welcome in Springfield.” He urged the group to take the mayor at his word and show local government that ” ‘the right people’ are indeed involved with your branch.” He went on to say that, “Often people outside the NAACP fear its presence. but that need not be the case. Experience has shown that many times officials conduct government affairs in discriminatory ways unintentionally, out of ignorance. Many times, thru NAACP efforts, when those ways have been shown to be hurtful and harmful, the officials have taken corrective actions to eliminate the offensive practices.” He encouraged everyone to become branch members and be active in branch affairs. He also told the group to solicit their own government officials as members.

In an encouraging sign, when a call for a show of hands of registered voters was made, every Springfield citizen’s hand was raised. Rev. Gardner thanked the Clarksville visitors for their encouragement and show of support. Membership forms were distributed to the group. Membership is open to all who support the mission and objectives of the NAACP. The Springfield Branch meets monthly, on the second Monday of the month, at 7 PM. Contact Rev. James Gardner for further branch and membership information.

Springfield citizens excited about the branch reactivation.

Springfield citizens talk about their objectives.

Rev. Hill and Rev. Gardner converse among Springfield citizens.

Jimmie Garland, 3rd vice-president of the Tennessee State Conference of Branches and president of the Clarksville Branch, addressed the gathering of some sixty residents and citizens. He noted that their mayor had issued a press statement declaring “that as long as the branch had the right kind of leaders and membership, the NAACP was welcome in Springfield!” Garland thanked the mayor for his warm endorsement. He stressed that Rev. Garner was just the kind of strong leader needed to helm the resurgent branch. He continued that people often fear the presence of the NAACP because they always see it as a threat to their comfortable ways. However, he said that is not, and need not, always be the case.

The NAACP believes in advocating for everyone’s civil rights. Membership is not restricted to just Blacks. Hispanics and Latinos, Native Americans, Jews, Caucasians, legal immigrant,or illegal immigrant, men , women and children, heterosexual, gay, young or old. The NAACP is a civil rights advocacy organization that cares for everyone’s civil rights.