The head of a local NAACP branch in Florida has resigned, citing “racial marginalization” from others in the civil rights organization as a South Asian woman.
Dr. Vanessa Toolsie, an elected vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Orange County branch, took over as president in March when Tiffany Hughes resigned to compete for a Florida legislature seat.
She submitted a lengthy resignation letter on the NAACP branch’s Facebook page on Sunday, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
She also posted a brief statement on her personal Facebook page, saying, “I shall NO LONGER TOLERATE ANY RACE ABUSE AGAINST ME FOR BEING A #ProudBrownWoman OF #SouthAsian AND #Caribbean ANCESTRY.” “It is abhorrently sad that I have regularly been forced to face this hateful bigotry in anti-racist spaces,” she continued.
According to the Sentinel, Toolsie accused a member of the organization’s executive board of attempting to exclude her from the annual gala, ignoring her emails, and purposefully failing to send out accurate and timely meeting announcements in a malicious attempt to sabotage her and impede her effectiveness.
It would be “hypocritical” for Toolsie to continue serving as president of an organization that is “against racism and oppression, while I continue to be treated with such bold disproportionate inequality, maliciously racistly oppressed,” she wrote. Toolsie had attempted to resolve this internally for months, but her superiors had not taken any action to stop the harassment and racial marginalization before she announced her resignation.
Leadership from the NAACP is urging free-agent athletes to avoid signing with Texas sports teams, citing the new Texas laws against teaching critical race theory, restricting abortion, and other civil rights violations. An open letter was recently sent out to players from the NBA, NFL, WNBA, MLB and NHL, warning them to avoid playing professional sports in Texas.
NAACP leadership referred to the new Texas state laws as “a blueprint by legislators to violate constitutional rights for all,” and requested that free agents avoid moving themselves and their families to a state that is “not safe for anyone.”
Meanwhile, the NAACP didn’t just caution professional athletes, who were reminded of their powerful position and platform across the country, but also everyday citizens. In a state that restricts abortion even in cases of rape or incest, the NAACP stated, “If you are a woman, avoid Texas.”
The NAACP also referenced other civil rights violations, including the limitations placed on voting rights. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed legislation that limits early voting, absentee voting options and banning drive-thru voting.
Texas has also enacted anti-humanitarian bills relating to the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, including a law against vaccine and mask mandates.
But limiting voting rights and ignoring Covid protocols isn’t all that the Texas legislature has done. One school district in Southlake, Texas, has also started banning books that cause discomfort in white students and white parents across the district. The entire state bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory, which seeks to educate students on the real history of the United States, from historical chattel slavery to modern-day social justice movements against racism and police brutality.
In particular, the civil rights of Black and Brown citizens are being restricted and limited, according to the NAACP’s open letter. NAACP Texas President Gary Bledsoe called such laws reprehensible. Bledsoe noted that citizens must “use all of the tools at their disposal” to support human rights.
Texas is currently home to at least nine professional sports teams. The leagues’ players’ associations did not respond to requests for comments.
Source: The Black Wall Street Times
Also Read: Texas House backs limits on school discussions of racism and social issues
The president of the state chapter of the NAACP is leveling accusations of racism and white supremacy against auditor Beth Wood and state Sen. Lisa Barnes, R-Nash, over Wood’s investigation of corruption in the Rocky Mount City Council and Barnes’ proposed legislation intended to address it.
“The truth is that Beth Woods and Lisa Barnes, a Democrat and a Republican, respectively, are operating tactics and strategies out of the old 1898 racist playbook,” state NAACP president Anthony Spearman wrote in a memo posted on the group’s Facebook page and sent to the Conference of NC State Conference of Branches of the NAACP.
Wood’s investigation, conducted by the Office of the State Auditor, found that multiple city officials prevented efforts to collect $47,704 in utility bills owed by council member Andre Knight. Records show the councilman’s debt was wiped clean by the city-run utility system, with direct involvement from the city manager’s office. The story was reported by Carolina Journal in May 2020.
“The former City Manager then instructed the Finance Director to handle the council members’ account. The city provided no evidence that any other customer had their outstanding utility accounts handled in this manner,” the investigation report says.
The state’s investigation found other indications of corruption including:
- Multiple downtown development managers failed to follow program guidelines, resulting in $32,452 of uncollected loans and $28,000 of improperly awarded funds, including to a nonprofit chaired by Knight.
- The Engineering Division’s non-compliance with the city’s code of ordinances could cost the city $31,000.
- City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney failed to comply with the city’s travel policy, resulting in $1,575 in unallowable travel expenses, including lobster and steak dinners … and an individual steamed seafood bucket.
Councilman Knight blames racism for the audit’s findings.
The audit was conducted after more than 200 complaints to the auditors’ corruption hotline.
“That’s an attempt to break the black majority in this city we have fought very hard for,” Knight said in an interview with WTVD.
Read the complete article at: Richmond Observer
Also read: North Carolina NAACP stands in support of addressing systemic racism in social studies curriculum
Members of the Grosse Pointe Park community raised their voices Sunday to condemn racism after a Black woman’s neighbor hung a Ku Klux Klan flag..
The NAACP’s Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods chapter and a community-based organization, WE GP, organized a rally to support Je Donna Dinges, whose next-door neighbor put up the flag facing her house.
Dinges, 57, has lived in Grosse Pointe Park for 11 years, has had issues with the neighbor the whole time, and, became aware of the flag on Feb. 15 when her ex-husband took out the trash and noticed it placed in the neighbor’s window, she said.
After getting little to no help from police, Dinges decided to get the media involved to bring light to her situation, she said.
Subsequently, Grosse Pointe Park’s Department of Public Safety sent two detectives to visit Dinges’ neighbor, who told him to take down the flag, and she later had a conference call with city officials where she expressed dissatisfaction with police response, she said.
Read the complete article at: Detroit Free Press
Members of the Grosse Pointe Park community raised their voices Sunday to condemn racism after a Black woman’s neighbor hung a Ku Klux Klan flag.. The NAACP’s Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods chapter and a community-based organization, WE GP, organized a rally to support Je Donna Dinges, whose next-door neighbor put up the flag facing her house. Dinges, 57, has lived in Grosse Pointe Park for 11 years, has had issues with the neighbor the whole time, and, became aware of the flag on Feb. 15 when her ex-husband took out the trash and noticed it placed in the neighbor’s window, she said. Subsequently, Grosse Pointe Park’s Department of Public Safety sent two detectives to visit Dinges’ neighbor, who told him to take down the flag, and she later had a conference call with city officials where she expressed dissatisfaction with police response, she said. KKK flag KKK flag
North Carolina NAACP stands in support of addressing systemic racism in social studies curriculum
Should systemic racism and gender identity be addressed in our public schools? That is the question many leaders within North Carolina are currently debating.
Over the summer of 2020, many Americans had no choice but to pay attention to these issues as many people made their voices heard during protests and marches of the country’s most populated cities. Now, the 13-member education board is at odds over social studies curriculum for K-12 public school students.
On Thursday, the state board of education member and Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who also happens to be the most vocal, took a strong stance against addressing the topics within classrooms.
The battle boils down whether to include three concepts:
- Systemic Racism
- Systemic Discrimination
- Gender Identity
Board members supporting the proposal of the language believe the words are factual and not up for debate, saying that children need more well-rounded lessons to process historic inequities.
Read the complete article at: ABC11
Should systemic racism and gender identity be addressed in our public schools? That is the question many leaders within North Carolina are currently debating. Over the summer of 2020, many Americans had no choice but to pay attention to these issues as many people made their voices heard during protests and marches of the country’s most populated cities. Now, the 13-member education board is at odds over social studies curriculum for K-12 public school students. Over the summer of 2020, many Americans had no choice but to pay attention to these issues as many people made their voices heard during protests and marches of the country’s most populated cities. Now, the 13-member education board is at odds over social studies curriculum for K-12 public school students. On Thursday, the state board of education member and Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who also happens to be the most vocal, took a strong stance against addressing the topics within classrooms. North Carolina NAACP North Carolina NAACP North Carolina NAACP
Bernie Sanders’ MLK message in South Carolina: Trump is a racist
Bernie Sanders’ MLK message in South Carolina: Trump is a racist
Sen. Bernie Sanders ripped President Trump as a racist Monday during a blunt Martin Luther King Jr. Day address at a NAACP rally in South Carolina.
“Today we talk about justice and today we talk about racism, and I must tell you it gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a president of the United States who is a racist,” Sanders told the crowd. “We have a president of the United States who has done something that no other president in modern history has done. What a president is supposed to do is to bring us together. And we have a president intentionally, purposely … trying to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion.”
Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, spoke at the 2019 King Day at the Dome, held at the South Carolina State House in Columbia. During his remarks, he recalled being in Washington for King’s 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. And he called for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote.
Strath Haven High School Community Left Frustrated After District’s Update On Racist Picture, Letter Investigation
Strath Haven High School Community Left Frustrated After District’s Update On Racist Picture, Letter Investigation
Parents, students and faculty came together to discuss a racist, hate-filled letter and this disturbing photo with two Strath Haven High School students that causes so much controversy last month.
Parents told Eyewitness News they left Wednesday’s meeting at the high school feeling somewhat annoyed, as if there are still a lot of questions that remain unanswered.
Strath Haven School District leaders, the police department and local NAACP shared what information they could, as the active investigation has been turned over to the district attorney’s office.
Red Rose shooting ‘absolutely’ hate crime, ‘alarming’ that York County back in spotlight
The Red Rose shooting begs a familiar question: Was there a hate crime in York County?
“Absolutely,” two lawyers said.
James Saylor, a 24-year-old letter carrier from Lower Windsor Township, is charged with one count of criminal homicide after police say he shot and killed Chad Merrill, a 25-year-old mason and new dad. The shooting happened early Saturday morning outside the Red Rose Restaurant & Lounge in Hellam Township shortly after Merrill defended a black man against Saylor’s racial slurs, including the n-word, according to police.
There’s no question it was hate, according to some lawyers and social justice advocates following the case, but whether ethnic intimidation should be added to the charges is debatable.
“Absolutely it’s hate, but murder is murder. You can’t go any higher than murder,” said Tom Kelley, a York defense attorney, former prosecutor and former county judge.
Tacking on a hate crime to this most serious charge wouldn’t make sense, he said.
But generally, the hate crime charge “helps immeasurably,” Kelly said.
“You can’t teach people to not hate, but you can punish them for it,” he said.
The details of the Red Rose shooting case show appropriate intent for a first-degree murder charge, Kelly said.
“You can see it’s a first-degree murder charge or you’re nuts,” he said. “You just can’t get any higher than murder in the first degree. It’s tough to defend that charge.”
Sandra Thompson, a lawyer and NAACP chapter president in York, sees it a little differently.
She also said it’s “absolutely” a hate crime because the “whole issue stemmed over hate.”
Merrill was “killed because he was protecting a man being harassed based on race,” Thompson said.
A person who is defending a protected class is also protected, according to Pennsylvania’s hate crime statute.
And she said a hate crime charge needs to be added on to discourage hate and encourage people to speak up when they see wrongdoing.
Thompson spoke up on April 21 after she and four other black women were asked to leave Grandview Golf Club for alleged slow play. Former county commissioner Steve Chronister, working in an advisory role at the course, called 911 twice that day and said the only weapon there was her mouth. That case is being analyzed by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Council to determine whether the women face gender and race discrimination that day.
Concern about racism expressed at Forest Hills Public Schools meeting
ADA, Mich. — Parents, students and concerned citizens spoke during public comment on Monday’s school board meeting on alleged racism and the widely seen blackface incident involving a student from the Forest Hills Public Schools. The incident made the rounds on social media a few weeks ago and led to the NAACP to get involved.
A few students shared their stories and experiences with racism at Forest Hills Schools. Parents also shared stories of their children. Many of them said they live in the school district but don’t send their kids to Forest Hills schools because of the alleged issues with racism.
A few thoughts were repeated, but all demanded change.
Some were asking to fill the vacant seat on the school board with a person of color who understands issues of diversity.
One of the stories shared was from a little girl who was born in Guatamala who said she was told by another student to quit school and become a maid.
“If I had to do it again, I would not send my children here –one of my biggest regrets,” an concerned mother said during public comment.
Multiple representatives from the NACCP were also at the meeting.
“We are definitely not blowing this out of proportion,” said Cle Jackson, president of the NAACP of Greater Grand Rapids. “We have a responsibility to help our constituents to address any form of racism.”
FOX 17 reached out to the student allegedly involved in the blackface incident, but so far they have not agreed to speak on camera. The NAACP also said they plan to meet with the school board privately.
NAACP strongly opposed to proposed anti-discrimination policy
A proposed anti-discrimination policy that would allow students to select their own name, race or gender without parental knowledge and/or consent is an affront to the civil rights movement, the Central Delaware branch of the NAACP said Monday.
La Mar Gunn, the group’s president, issued a statement against the proposed rule, saying that it “in no way, shape or form should be compared to the 400-plus year fight for equal rights.”
“The fight by those of African descent for equality is fundamentally different than allowing a young child to determine his or her gender,” he said. ” (…) In stark contrast to allowing children to choose their gender, being born black is an invariable fact.”
Regulation 225 was crafted at Gov. John Carney’s direction to address potential discrimination in Delaware public schools. The public comment period for the rule ended Monday, and on Tuesday, the state Education Department said it would reconvene its development team in order to consider changes based on the more than 11,000 comments received.
A proposed anti-discrimination policy that would allow students to select their own name, race or gender without parental knowledge and/or consent is an affront to the civil rights movement, the Central Delaware branch of the NAACP said Monday. La Mar Gunn, the group’s president, issued a statement against the proposed rule, saying that it “in no way, shape or form should be compared to the 400-plus year fight for equal rights.” “The fight by those of African descent for equality is fundamentally different than allowing a young child to determine his or her gender,” he said. ” (…) In stark contrast to allowing children to choose their gender, being born black is an invariable fact.” Regulation 225 was crafted at Gov. John Carney’s direction to address potential discrimination in Delaware public schools. The public comment period for the rule ended Monday, and on Tuesday, the state Education Department said it would reconvene its development team in order to consider changes based on the more than 11,000 comments received.