By Ed Jackson
The unprecedented attacks on the rights of Black Americans – from our right to vote and protest, to the right to have our truthful history taught in schools. Have continued to increase
The outcome of November’s elections reveals encouraging signs that many voters across the Nation share our commitment to defending democracy from those who would undermine it.
Last year was a painful and challenging time for anyone who cares about racial justice and equality. Book bans in schools and libraries across the country threaten free speech and education. False challenges to election results undermine trust in our national systems. And the growing threats of violence against public servants at every level are more dangerous than ever.
Racial discrimination is woven into our nation and it’s poisonous. You can see it when the largest mobilization of Black voters in modern history is immediately followed by a nationwide attack on voting rights. You can see it in the disrespectful treatment that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
You can see it when qualified candidates are filtered out of job applications simply for having a name that “sounds black ”The attacks on our racial justice and equality will succeed only if we fail to show up, raise our voices, and defend our freedoms that so many before us fought to achieve.
The NAACP will play a critical role in determining whether our democracy will advance through the darkness or be consumed by it. So, we must continue to be relentless in our work, whether we are arguing in court, testifying before congress, or organizing in our communities, or cultivating the next generation of civil rights leaders.
IT is time to bring our vision of what this nation can be when we finally unlock the full promise of justice and equality for everyone –creating a future in which people of color are no longer denied their rights, prevented from accessing educational opportunity, or oppressed By a criminal justice system that treats them like second class citizens.
