Every week, NAACP National Field Director Stefanie Brown answers your questions about the NAACP through her vlog, “Ask Stef.” You can participate by sending your questions to AskStefB (at) gmail (dot) com. This week, Stef takes your questions on organizer trainings and getting involved with your local NAACP chapter.

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On Valentine’s Day 2008 I was sitting in the driveway of my home, as my wife grabbed the mail from the mailbox and handed it to me. When I opened them, there was a noose in one envelope and racist literature in another.

It took many months, a lengthy investigation, and my testimony before a Federal Grand Jury, but finally this October a white supremacist named Daniel Jones from Portland, Oregon was indicted. At one point my 7-year-old daughter overheard me discussing this and innocently asked, “Daddy, what’s a noose?” This caused me to reflect on the terrorism many of our fore parents endured so we could have the privilege to be a voice for the voiceless as advocates of the NAACP.

In our not so distant past, nooses weren’t being mailed to pose a threat, but were put around the necks of our people to hang them from tree limbs while deranged onlookers gladly observed. Freedom advocates were dragged from churches and theirs homes in front of their families to be murdered for speech we sometimes take for granted that hasn’t always been so free. Therefore, I thought it important to now provide some context of why a small community in the Mid-West attracted such cowardly acts of racism and fear mongering.

On a Friday evening one month before the noose incident, a gang of heavily armed police officers stormed past children’s toys on a porch and went in a home to execute a warrant for a low level drug trafficker. They used distraction devices to create a loud bang with bright lights, causing the dogs in the home to react to the threat which resulted in them being shot by officers on the first floor. Two other officers continued up the stairs where 26-year-old Tarika Wilson stood terrified with her 6 children trying to make sense of what was happening below. 30 year veteran Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, armed with an automatic assault rifle, recklessly shot through a baby, 1-year-old Sincere Wilson and killed his mother.

Our community was left stunned, demanding answers about how a highly trained SWAT officer could kill an unarmed woman holding a baby. Soon the national media was involved and this horror quickly manifest into cultural, class and racial divide at its worst. Concerned citizens protested, voicing long standing displeasure of the heavy handed tactics and excessive force used by the local police department.

Several community forums brought out hundreds of people, telling story after story of how their rights were being violated, not by everyday citizens, but by the police. Eventually a special prosecutor was appointed and a grand jury convened to look at the evidence about the killing of Tarika Wilson. After hearing the argument for probable cause, this grand jury came back with two misdemeanor indictments. Months later the trial began, and ended with an all white jury finding officer Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, not guilty on all charges.

As the president of the Lima NAACP, I was one of the local voices speaking out against this travesty. It was then that the noose was sent to my family’s home.

I’ve been asked many times do the threats scare me, and my answer is unequivocally no. Attempts to quell the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only affirm our tremendous responsibility to stand united in the midst of coercion and intimidation no matter how high the stakes.

Too many lives lost to cower in the shadows of fear. Too many roads paved with the blood of our ancestors to allow evil to stifle voices for equality. Too many battles left to fight for the disenfranchised and the oppressed everywhere. The opposition toward the evolution of freedom is a constant, but meets a well prepared foe in the NAACP. Liberty comes at the expense of many, but is the ultimate sacrificial determinant of its precious nature.

The threats to my family and others only underscore that the NAACP must be more vigilant, more determined, more focused, more bold, more resolute, more driven, and more deliberate, because our enemies most certainly will.

The NAACP Blog is geared toward promoting a free exchange of ideas. The views represented in individual posts may not represent the official position of the Association.

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(Excerpted from a speech delivered at the North Carolina State Capitol)

If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves, pray and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and heal the land. (2d Chronicles 7:14)

We are here today because we need a healing in the land. We need those who want to perpetuate a sick health care system that is not for everybody and does not cover everybody to turn from their wicked ways. We are here today because we need a healing in the land.

It is ironic that 74 years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt was fighting to secure and sign the Social Security Act. Even then, the precursors of today’s forces of greed, selfishness, fear, and division were fighting him, and fighting reform and progressivism in America. They called it “socialism.” That’s what they said about Social Security. They said it would break America. They said that everybody should not be included.

In fact, these attacks weakened the first Social Security Act. The forces of greed, selfishness, fear, and division fought so hard, and bought so many souls, they forced coverage for the mostly Black, Hispanic and poor domestic and farm workers to be taken out of the Act before it was passed. It took 19 long years for these Americans to finally be covered when they turned 65 -if they made it to 65.

The forces of greed, selfishness, fear, and division have a long history of promoting a divided America. They are good at it. They are loud at it. And they are consistent at it.

But today we gather to say they have had their say. Now it is time for us who believe in a United America, a caring America, a compassionate America to speak up.

This week is my birthday. I was born 2 days after the March on Washington, 46 years ago on yesterday. That was a triumphant day. That was a day when a prophet named Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. laid out a challenge to these same forces in the nation’s capital. He challenged the forces who were saying the call for justice and jobs and equality would cost too much for America. Dr. King said on that triumphant day, as we must say now, we refuse to believe that the great vaults of this nation are bankrupt. And today I say, we refuse to believe that we cannot pay for a just health care system.

The forces of greed, selfishness, fear and division cannot have it both ways. When they demand more tax cuts for the wealthy that don’t need it, somehow they always find the money.

When they want to bail out Wall Street’s bankers and pay the extravagant CEO’s billion dollar bonuses with taxpayer’s dollars, they can always find the money.

When they want to follow in lock step the leadership of a President who led us into an immoral and unnecessary war, they found trillions of dollars in our money.

But when it comes to caring for our own, for the 50 million Americans who can’t pay for good health insurance, the voices of greed, selfishness, division and fear want to tell us the funds are not sufficient. You can’t break and rob the bank and then say there is no money in the bank. You can’t say, it cost too much today knowing that it will cost even more tomorrow if you don’t fix it now. You can’t with integrity be a Senator or Representative with the best retirement and health care in the nation fight plans to help everyday Americans to need good health care. You can’t with integrity accept Social Security and Medicare which, in case you haven’t heard, are U.S. Government programs, and then go on television and say the Government ought not help others get health insurance. Something is terribly wrong with these positions.

Yes, in a democracy we ought to have a debate. But the debate ought to be logical. And it surely out not to based in lies and distortion. So we are here today to say we will not, cannot, and must not believe the distortions.

Health Care for Every American, Now.

That’s what we believe.

That’s what we want.

That’s what we are fighting for.

Too many Americans today are straining under the burden of two related trends: shrinking health care coverage and rising health care costs. Over the last decade, millions of Americans have found themselves uninsured, and millions more have become underinsured as the value of their coverage has declined. In the years 2008 - 2010 it is estimated that almost 6,000 people a day, or almost 7 million Americans total, will lose their health insurance. We must help our fellow Americans.

Dr. Martin Luther King also said 40 years ago: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

So, health care reform is not some kind of calculated socialism. It is common sense public policy. Tim Wise, a white social commentator, has said, “By allowing the right to throw around terms like ‘socialist’ to describe the President and ‘socialism’ to describe his….health care reform proposals without challenges is to ensure that the right will succeed in their demonization campaign…. Wise said, and I agree, this noise is about race. It is about “othering” a President.” This is what animates the every move of some of the poor and working people who get sucked in by the Palins and the Limbaugh fear mongering. Unless our Movement begins pushing back, and starts insisting that yes, the old days are gone, white hegemony is dead, and deserved its demise, and that all of us, Black, Brown AND white, will be better off for it, the chorus of white backlash will only grow louder. So too will it grow more effective at dividing and conquering the working people who would benefit — all of them — from a new direction.”

If caring for all the people is ‘socialist’ then Amos the prophet in the bible was a socialist when he said ‘Let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Isaiah was a socialist when he said ‘Lose the bands of wickedness and care for the poor among us.’ Jesus Christ, the non-profit prophet and healer, he was a socialist when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, give sight to the blind, and healing to the broken hearted.” If insuring health care is socialist then Ralph Waldo Emerson was a socialist when he said, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”

If working for a the just society that provides health care for all Americans is socialist, then the founding fathers were socialist; when they enumerated in the founding documents of this nation that the purpose of government was to work for the common good, not private prosperity alone.

Health care reform is not socialism. It is social justice and we must make this clear. We cannot allow the B.O.L. to dictate this debate. We cannot allow the three screamers-Mr. Beck, Mr. O’Rielly and Mr. Limbaugh-to set the terms of this important discussion. The BOL shout loud to try to drown out our voices of truth and compassion. That is why we gather and lift our voices to speak. And to Act. Health care for every American now.

We must take on every distortion and every the lie. When they try to say there is a death panel in the current proposal. No, we must say. There is not a death panel in the current proposal but there is a death panel in the current system.

The Death Panel is the discriminatory system now in place. The panel of insurance claims adjusters who deny claims. Those who denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions. Those who set the cost of insurance that forces people to choose between food, paying the rent, or health insurance. This Death Panel keeps one out of four Americans at the mercy of every illness or accident and every lost job. We must challenge those who are funded by insurance companies and the health care industries. Democracy NC gathered research from the Center of Responsive Politics and Federal Elections Commission, and listed the donations given to every member of Congress. Senator Richard Burr, for instance, leads the list receiving over 1 million, 600 thousand dollars from health care and insurance corporations. And we must say to him and every other elected official. No matter who gives you money, your job is to care for all the people. Help make a better life for all the people.

We must challenge Democratic Party candidates who run on a progressive agenda. Who say in the heat of campaign that they stand for health care reform. That say they stand with the late Lion of the Senate, the honorable Edward M. Kennedy who championed full health care reform and said, “Every American should have the opportunity to receive a quality education, a job that respects their dignity and protects their safety and health care that does not condemn those whose health is impaired to life of poverty and lost opportunity.”

We must challenge those who rode the coattails of President Obama, calling for health care reform, but somehow once they get elected try to move from being Lions that will fight for real change to being Blue Dogs, who sniff around for the easy compromise. We believe in bipartisan efforts but we don’t believe in a watered down bifurcated reform bill that doesn’t address the fundamental problems.

Why should we have to compomise on the moral rightness of health on every American? Senator Burr, Senator Hagan no matter whose money contributed or what color the dog, the donkey or the elephant is. Conservative or liberal we want health care for every American; this must be our cry We must be lions.

Before this debate ever began this year, we in the HKonJ Coalition said four years ago, Health Care for All. NC ought to provide its people with health insurance and prescription drugs, while funding public health programs to treat social diseases that plague Black and poor communities including HIV/AIDS, diseases caused by environmental pollution and warming, drugs, domestic violence, mental illness, diabetes, and obesity.

The NAACP has called for health reform for years. Our current system discriminates on the basis of race and class.

We know what works in America and bless all the people:

(1) Full health care coverage that is affordable to every individual, family and business which also provides coverage for pre-existing conditions;

(2) Standard, comprehensive health care benefits that meet everyone’s needs from preventive to chronic care;

(3) The choice of a private or public health care plan, which includes a new public health care “public option” that will provide a guaranteed backup which will always be there to ensure quality, affordable health care coverage no matter what; and

(4) Equity in health care access, treatment, research, and resources to people and communities of color and stronger health services in low-income communities.

“Health Care, just like Education, is a fundamental human right in the 21st century in America.”

Systemic denial of health care to the poor, to working people and people out of work, to the 50-100 million Americans who need health care the most, to people with pre-existing diseases is a sin. It’s evil. It’s wrong. It’s un-just. It’s not American. It’s perpetuating a separate and unequal society. It’s cementing a Jim Crow Health system in place for another century.

This is the United States of America. The richest country in the world, we want an American Health Care System–not a system that works for the rich, and is dysfunctional for everyone else. We want an American Health Care System–not a system that discriminates and excludes that picks and chooses who lives and who dies by the size of their bank account. The exclusive health system works fine for those with good jobs and big bank accounts.

The exclusive health care system belongs to them. But this is the United States of America. We need a United States of America Health Care System, the USA Health Care Plan. If you don’t understand that, then you don’t understand what America is. America is ours. America is all of us.

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National Field Director Stefanie Brown takes questions from NAACP members and supporters around the country–everything from NAACP issue areas to organizing strategies.

This week, she’ll begin fielding your questions in her new video blog “Ask Stef.” Send your questions to AskStefB@gmail.com, and each week she will select the most frequently asked question to respond by video, right here on the NAACP blog.

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In late October, I attended the Poisoned Communities Meeting from the Environmental Protection Agency Region 4. The event consisted of community members from the 6 states that comprise the region providing testimony on their situations; the EPA Senior Managers making statements regarding their planned responses; and the community members responding to the EPA comments with a torrent of outrage. The stories I heard were heartbreaking:

* Sheila Holt-Orstead from Dickson Tennessee shared how she became involved with environmental justice when she discovered that her father had cancer. She was subsequently diagnosed herself with Stage 2 breast cancer and learned that other family members had cancer. Investigation revealed that the Dickson County Landfill, adjacent to her family farm, had dumped waste that included tricholoroethelyne, or TCE, a cancer-causing chemical that was used as a degreaser. This substance had been seeping into ground water at levels that far exceeded EPA’s safety standards. If this wasn’t horrifying enough, she learned that letters from the state sent to white families warned them of the hazard and placed them on clean drinking water from the municipal supply and letters to black families reassured them that the water was fine and potable. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is representing Sheila’s family in a discrimination case. Sheila’s summary statement to EPA was simple: “Do your job.”

* Atlanta-based NGO GreenLaw provided testimony on LongLeaf Energy Station, a proposed coal fired power plant slated to be built in Early, Georgia. They explained the major race disparities in power plant placement: “while pollution from power plants affects all people, 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal fired power plant.” Coal fired power plants emit particulate matter that is breathed deeply into the lungs, causing respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Asthma is tied to air pollution and African Americans in Georgia are 2-3 times more likely to suffer asthma deaths than white persons and African American children are five times more likely to die from asthma than white children. Since the EPA has delegated authority to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, GreenLaw called on the EPA to require that the Georgia EPD evaluate possible disparate impacts in issuing air quality permits.

* Ten thousand tons of coal ash travels from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Superfund site in Kingston, Tennessee to the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown, Alabama every day! The TVA recently announced that the plan to increase the rate of rail shipments to the landfill by over 20%! Within 5 miles of the landfill there are 1300 households comprising 3500 people, 69% of whom are African American and 32% of whom are living in poverty. According to the testimony of Reverend Murdock of  Concerned Citizens of Perry County, Alabama has no regulations governing the disposal of waste, even a hazardous substance such as coal ash. Coal ash is a known as a “Group I” carcinogen associated with increased risks of skin, lung, and bladder cancers. An analysis of an ash sample revealed high levels of arsenic, mercury, and radium which are associated with skin, lung, liver, leukemia, breast, bladder, and bone cancers with chronic ingestion or inhalation.

These stories were shocking, yet sadly not isolated incidences. To add insult to injury, the crowd seemed particularly frustrated by the reaction from the EPA official at the hearing. One audience member said that a few minutes after he started talking she zoned out as she didn’t hear anything that would respond to the dire situation being faced by her communities. Another passionately lamented her 19 year old daughter’s severely ill health and stunted development and challenged the EPA to take bold action relative to the neglect of years past. One woman, Sheila, from Dickson Tennessee stood up in anger, saying the while the official was speaking to a room of primarily African American persons his comments were about remedies/solutions for predominantly white communities in Knoxville and this follows the typical pattern of EPA support. She then declared that she was “done” and left the meeting.

The EPA official, though continuing to try to maintain a brave and stiffly smiling face, was clearly nonplussed and didn’t have a substantive response. It is unclear where this goes from here….

I do know that what I heard at the Poisoned Communities meeting has certainly stoked the fire of motivation and urgency for this critical work. I hope you will join the action! If you want to become involved by documenting your story, challenging those who perpetuate these circumstances, or speaking truth to power with policymakers who are supposed to protect communities from such exposure, please be in touch: jpatterson (at) naacpnet (dot) org.

The NAACP Blog is geared toward promoting a free exchange of ideas. The views represented in individual posts may not represent the official position of the Association.

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In the past decade alone, 880,000 African Americans died because they did not have access to meaningful health care.

For people of color, life is, on average, shorter. Illness is more prevalent, and disability is more common. We live in a system that provides limited opportunities for communities of color to access health services, with fewer options for treatment, and with lower-quality care.

Communities of color are hit hard because of lower incomes and less ability to afford insurance and care. Patients of color also face greater health risks since they are less likely to live in communities with basic access to a healthy lifestyle-local hospitals or clinics with specialized services, parks and green spaces to exercise, and supermarkets where people can buy fresh food.

For this reason, the NAACP has teamed up with the National Urban League and the Black Leadership Forum to form a War Room in Washington, D.C., in order to push for real, meaningful reform in the days leading up to the House vote. We will be holding dozens of rallies, lobby days and press events across the nation.

What do we mean by “real” reform? Here’s what we are fighting for:

• A strong public option. This is crucial-it keeps insurance companies honest and creates competition in an otherwise monopolized market. Simply put, a strong public option is the only way to truly achieve real reform.

• Full, affordable and comprehensive coverage for all individuals and families, regardless of their medical history. Insurance companies must not be allowed to drop coverage for people who become seriously ill.

• Equity in access to care, treatment and resources.

Currently, the color of your skin, your ethnic background and where you live do more than just influence your access to health care; they can determine the quality and cost of your care.

Low-income families and people of color have the most at stake in this national debate, and with a vote coming up as early as Friday, we have got to take control of this debate. Left unaddressed, our health-care system is unsustainable. It is crushing families and businesses, and stunting America’s economic growth. We can no longer maintain a system that delays, denies and defends the lack of care.

But this won’t happen without activism and our voice. Without your involvement, real health care reform could very well fail.

I hope you will join us in this struggle. In our D.C. war room we are urging people to let their voice be heard, educating people on the health care reform bills and coordinating rallies with our communities around the country. But it won’t happen without you. Together we are the soldiers that have always made our country greater, whether we were fighting for voting rights or the desegregation of our schools, or to save an innocent man on death row. The difference between winning and losing was you. Raise your voice now. You can contact your congressional representative and get involved at our online War Room. Together we can make real reform a reality.

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I am writing from the heart of Civil Rights Health Care War Room-an unprecedented coordinated effort by the NAACP, National Urban League, and the Black Leadership Forum and others to fight for real health care reform. Low income families and people of color have the most at stake in this national debate, and with a vote coming up as early as Friday, we have got to take control of this debate.

What does “real reform” mean? We are talking:

* Full, affordable & comprehensive coverage for all individuals and families
* Nobody being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions
* Equity in access to care, treatment & resources-an end to racial and income disparities.
* A real choice of a private or public health care plan. There is no reform without at strong public option.

Check out our War Room webpage, complete with video, action items and links to events going on across the country this week. Together we can make sure that health care reform works for all of us.

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This week, civil rights groups across the country will rally for meaningful health care reform. On Thursday, November 5th, local NAACP units will hold press actions in ten states to kick off our final, coordinated push for meaningful reform, which includes a strong public option. Our actions will continue through the weekend and next week with rallies and lobby days in a dozen more cities throughout the country.

We know that real healthcare reform will have a profound impact on African American families. As a group, African Americans are more likely to be without quality, affordable and accessible healthcare. Our volunteers range in age from 15 to 95 years old; with our youth and college members belonging to the least insured generation ever and our cadre of senior citizens actively concerned about Medicare and the future health of their families.

Along with partner organizations like the National Urban League, Black Leadership Forum and Color of Change, we’ll be holding dozens of rallies, lobby days and press events across the nation. Please check out our online War Room to find an event near you!

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By Quentin T. James, Political Action Chair of the Howard University Chapter of the NAACP

The symbolism of having the first African American President is being interpreted in many ways throughout American politics, and more directly in both the Atlanta and Charlotte mayoral races. In both southern cities, race has long been a deciding factor in the representative politics of the post-civil rights era. However, one must ask if symbolism and the level to which a glass ceiling is shattered is a worthy enough reason to measure a politician’s success or failure, without regard to their policies?

Since 1974 Atlanta has elected African American mayors to lead its city in every election. These mayors have done everything from developing the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport into the world’s busiest airport to bringing the 1996 Summer Olympic Games to the city. Their mutual successes have garnered Atlanta’s reputation as “the Capital of the South.” State Senator Kasim Reed and Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, both African American candidates for mayor, hope to continue this tradition despite the perception that Atlanta is due for change in its racial politics.

By contrast, Anthony Foxx, the only Democrat in the Charlotte mayoral race, is attempting to become the city’s first African American mayor since 1987, and only the second ever.  Harvey Gantt, Charlotte’s first black mayor and the first African American to be admitted to Clemson University, is 22 years removed from office in Charlotte. However, the impact of his election on Anthony Foxx’s generation is still being felt. Foxx, for instance, became the first black Student Body President at Davidson College in 1992. While at the age of 38, Foxx is still among those “firsts” in the black community.

So what is all of this race stuff? Does race really matter when looking at choosing someone to govern? Well, last November Barack Obama received 43% of the white vote, who made up 74% of the total electorate. Pundits proclaimed America was entering a post-racial era because no other black candidate had received that high of a percentage of the white electorate’s vote. But were we? Analyzing the national exit polls from the election, one must conclude that we are not. The fact remains that 55% of white voters voted for John McCain and 95% of black voters voted for Barack Obama. While there is a big difference in looking at the statistics of black and white voters, they still represent a reality in our country; race is an important factor when looking at candidates of color. Barack Obama’s election was a shift in American politics, but that shift does not seem to have moved us away from the fact that racial politics are still at play in America.

The other reality will be proven on Tuesday. Will Atlanta elect its first white mayor in over 35 years? Will Charlotte elect only its second black mayor ever? Atlanta is a majority minority city with around 54% of the city being black, while Charlotte is exactly the opposite with about 55% of the city being white. Tomorrow could be a new day for the south. It is time to get race out of the race.

Quentin James is a senior Political Science and African American Studies double major at Howard University and a Legislative Correspondent for a Member of Congress.

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The NAACP Blog is geared toward promoting a free exchange of ideas. The views represented in individual posts may not represent the official position of the Association.

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By Robert Rooks, Director of NAACP Criminal Justice Programs

As I was thinking about what to write for this blog, my mind kept floating to personal experiences of friends I’ve lost to violence and how inept responses to crime have made our communities less safe. My thoughts were confirmed minutes before I gave a workshop in LA last weekend when my workshop facilitator informed me that he had just received a call that his cousin had been shot and killed in Oakland. I know what a call like that feels like and after conversing with him about his loss, I knew I had to write about violence, how I believe incarceration makes our communities less safe, and introduce Smart and Safe as a strategy to address both violence and mass incarceration.

Over the years in response to violence, I’ve always been unsettled by the call to action that parents should be more responsible. Not because it is not true or that parental responsibility should not be at the top of the list. What’s unsettling about blaming parents for violence in communities is that when we do this, we often take away a call for community responsibility and a need to analyze systemic influences that perpetuates and creates violent scenarios in our communities. Although there are many factors to violence today, one important but over looked contributing factor is the role mass incarceration plays in destabilizing urban communities and creating environments that make our communities less safe.

Today, America is just 5% of the world population and has 25% of the world’s prisoners.  Over the last 30 years, the “war on drugs” has been our nation’s vain response to selling and using illegal drugs and is the reason why incarceration rates are so high. Not only does mass incarceration do little to address problems associated with drug use or drug selling, incarceration strategies over the last 30 years have actually made our communities less safe and in some instances, perpetuate continual violence. Mass incarceration perpetuates violence in communities by:

• Destabilizing high incarceration communities by populating prisons with majority non-violent offenders, making less people available to work, pay taxes and help build community.

• Exposing nonviolent offenders to violent environments such as prisons therefore increasing the risk and potential of engaging in violent behaviors.

• Investing in prisons in ways that prevents investment in other approaches that research has confirmed to be more effective at dealing with violence.

• Zero tolerance school policies creates a culture of violence because the situational environment in detention centers fosters violence that often spill over into communities once youth get out.

• Removing fathers and mothers from the home, limiting their ability to raise their children.

• Allowing confidential informants to run wild and commit crimes without reprimand because they give valuable information about other criminals to law enforcement.

• Creating a culture of violence by focusing majority of law enforcement efforts on arresting low level offenders at the expense of violent offenses. This low hanging fruit strategy only succeeds at increasing arrest rates, while other often younger dealers emerge, eager to be next in line to serve the generational cycle of drug dealing as drug related violence continues.

Basically, the violence blamed on bad parenting is the very violence perpetuated by systems thought to make communities safe.  It’s time to be Smart and Safe!!!

Smart and Safe is the NAACP’s new criminal justice initiative that’s scheduled to launch in early 2010. A communications and advocacy campaign that will offer a public indictment of “tough on crime” policies and mass incarceration; while also offering alternative policies and best practice models for treatment, employment, youth programs and policing communities.  The goal of Smart and Safe is to usher in a next generation of public safety and criminal justice policies that will make communities safe while reducing violence, youth truancy and crime without mass incarceration. Join us in making safer communities a reality!

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