PRESS RELEASE - NAACP DETROIT BRANCH PARTNERS WITH BALLOT POWER TO DRIVE VOTER ENGAGEMENT IN UNDERSERVED DETROIT COMMUNITIES
This partnership will provide an even greater opportunity to empower disenfranchised communities and ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot.
PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. BIDEN TO SERVE AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR 69TH FIGHT FOR FREEDOM FUND DINNER
“The 69th Annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner is scheduled for Sunday, May 19, at Huntington Place. As we face critical decisions related to policies and programs concerning health care, the right to vote, economic access and developments, international crises of war and division, a rise in hate crimes, as well as tensions in colleges and universities across the nation, all of us must participate in the great cause of equality and liberty for all. “
THE GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY NEEDS TO BE REPLACED!
State Representative Josh Schriver of Oxford, Michigan, demonstrates to us all the need for the study of Black history and other diverse cultures in the most culturally diverse nation of the world. Unfortunately, his voice can be heard in too many state legislative assemblies across the nation. As a so-called Christian, I am sure Representative Schriver knows the scripture found in Matthew 15:18, “the things that come out the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.” In observing Black history, which is really American history celebrated all year round, I am reminded of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “there is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance.”
REMEMBERING REVEREND DR. CHARLES G. ADAMS
Every now and then we are blessed to receive a melody from heaven. Dr. Charles Gilchrist Adams, known to many of us as the “Harvard Hooper” was indeed a melodious, majestic voice from on high. As a minister, I am reminded of the words found in Romans 10:14, “How shall they know unless they hear it from a preacher.” Charles Adams was not just a preacher of the gospel. He was a preacher’s preacher. He was not just an alumnus of Harvard. It was Harvard that was an alumnus of Charles Adams.
GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER SIGNS NEW VOTING RIGHTS BILLS INTO LAW AT THE DETROIT BRANCH NAACP
Today the people have been given some new tools. These tools will help every community to build on the foundation of a democracy which includes all people regardless of race, gender, location, age, or station. It is important to note that every election has a consequential determination on the people’s personal situation. Michigan has a Governor who understands the necessity to provide access, information, and protection for those in the family of Michiganders who seek to exercise their voting franchise.
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL THE STATEMENT FROM REV. DR. WENDELL ANTHONY
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL THE STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER
REV. DR. JOANN NICHOLS WATSON - A FIGHTER FOR FREEDOM PAR EXCELLENCE
Maya Angelou made it very clear when describing certain individuals. “When someone shows you who they are believe them the first time!” JoAnn Watson made me a believer the first time I saw her. She was taking care of her siblings and she was outspoken at Macculloch Elementary School in Detroit. She showed me who she was as the president of the Central High School student chapter of the NAACP. She showed me who she was as the editor for the Central Student, our high school newspaper. She showed us all who she was as the first woman to be appointed as Executive Director of the Detroit Branch NAACP from 1990-1997. Her examples are legendary. Freedom Fighter, Writer, Orator, Organizer, Talk Show Host, Pastor, Wife, Mother, and Grandmother. She had been elevated to the royal position of ‘Queen Mother’ based on her revolutionary, universal recognition as one who un-apologetically speaks Truth to Power.
NOW IS THE TIME! AWARDEES ANNOUNCED FOR 68TH ANNUAL FIGHT FOR FREEDOM FUND DINNER
As we approach the historic June Jubilee scheduled for June 22-25, we are reminded of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to lift our nations from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” Now is the time for us to re-energize our people and to refocus our efforts on the work that still must be done. Detroit will be the scene to remind the nation of the need to maintain our vigilance and commitment to freedom, justice, and equity.
CHAOS OR COMMUNITY: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
“We stand here at Central United Methodist Church, a place of historic significance, remembering just 14 days after Dr. King gave his last sermon here in 1968, he would be assassinated at a Memphis, Tennessee motel. The Detroit Branch NAACP is pleased to once again commemorate this historic occasion at our June Jubilee: A Celebration Of Freedom, June 22-25, right here in the city of Detroit. It was in Detroit that Dr. King gave that preliminary address of I Have A Dream at Cobo Hall on that June day.”
PRESS STATEMENT - AMERICA AND ITS KILLING FIELDS
“We must end the gratuitous prayers for the victims, flowers and teddy bears for the deceased, litanies of how bad we feel that another killing field has occurred. It is not enough to send up a prayer for the dead. We must send out a policy change for the living. We cannot allow political leaders who are supposed to serve the people to disregard the will and determination of the people.”
PRESS STATEMENT - FROM MINNEAPOLIS TO MEMPHIS BLACK LIVES STILL DON’T MATTER AMERICA…YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!
“Black folks live with the personal trauma every day of wondering whether or not this is the day that I will have an encounter with the police as they pull up behind or right next to my car. Will my child make it home safely from school or work when he and his friends are walking together or driving together in a group? As he goes to visit a friend in a different neighborhood, will he be viewed as a trespasser, a criminal, someone who does not belong? There is a culture in American policing that has imbedded within it, racial, physical, and intellectual stereotypes of Black men in particular.”
PRESS STATEMENT - JUSTICE IS NOT JUST RETRIBUTION IT IS ALSO REDEMPTION
“This acknowledgment is a start. However, we must also realize that claiming “disgust for Martel’s hiring” has cost him to resign from his job and forced him to relive his prior negative activity. He has already paid that price. It has tainted Justice Bolden. Many persons will hear only the original attack made upon her. They will forever be stuck in the halls of an injustice done to her.”
PRESS STATEMENT - KARAMO LAWSUIT “UNACCEPTABLE AND CANNOT BE PERMITTED”
“Today, the Third Judicial Court for the county of Wayne in the state of Michigan threw out the non-sensical, frivolous lawsuit filed by Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State Kristina Karamo, Philip O’Halloran, and their cohorts…Thank God there still is some sanity in an America that seems to have been turned upside down. This nonsense brought forward by the Karamo camp was intended to delay, intimidate, and prevent Michigan’s largest city from casting legal ballots for the candidates of their choice.”