Latest NAACP News

NAACP fund seeks to close Black voter registration and turnout gaps ahead of the November election

May. 22, 2024 15:44 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The NAACP on Wednesday announced that nonprofits engaged in a variety of voter-engagement efforts can apply for grant funding that helps local organizations register voters, boost turnout and guard against minority disenfranchisement. The leading civil rights...

Detroit officer placed on administrative duties after telling protester to 'go back to Mexico'

May. 21, 2024 15:04 PM EDT

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit police lieutenant has been placed on administrative duties after a shouting match in which he told a pro-Palestinian protester to “go back to Mexico.” The encounter Sunday outside Huntington Place in downtown Detroit where President Joe Biden was giving...

Biden tells Morehouse graduates that scenes in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war break his heart, too

May. 20, 2024 02:26 AM EDT

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday offered his most direct recognition of U.S. students' anguish over the Israel-Hamas war, telling graduates of historically Black Morehouse College that he heard their voices of protest and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza break his heart, too. ...

Biden marks Brown v. Board of Education anniversary amid signs of erosion in Black voter support

May. 16, 2024 15:32 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden marked this week's 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that struck down institutionalized racial segregation in public schools by welcoming plaintiffs and family members in the landmark case to the White House. The Oval Office visit...

Florida deputy's killing of Black airman renews debate on police killings and race

May. 16, 2024 00:12 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2020, the top enlisted leader of the Air Force went public with his fear of waking up to the news that a Black airman had been killed by a white police officer. Then four years later, a Florida deputy shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson in his...

Racial bias did not shape Mississippi's water funding decisions for capital city, EPA says

May. 09, 2024 16:41 PM EDT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it found “insufficient evidence” that racial discrimination shaped decisions made by two Mississippi agencies about water system funding for the state's majority-Black capital city of Jackson. The EPA's Office...

Challenge to North Carolina's new voter ID requirement goes to trial

May. 06, 2024 21:10 PM EDT

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Trial in a federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina's new voter identification law finally began on Monday, with a civil rights group alleging its photo requirement unlawfully harms Black and Latino voters. The non-jury trial started more than five...

Civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer Johnny Cash to replace Arkansas statues at the US Capitol

May. 06, 2024 12:03 PM EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — When Arkansas lawmakers decided five years ago to replace the statues representing the state at the U.S. Capitol, there was little objection to getting rid of the existing sculptures. The statues that had stood there for more than 100 years were obscure figures in the...

Restrictions on absentee ballot help in Alabama are being challenged in a lawsuit

Apr. 04, 2024 14:06 PM EDT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama law that criminalizes certain types of assistance with absentee ballot applications is being challenged in court by groups who say it “turns civic and neighborly voter engagement into a serious crime.” The Alabama State Conference of the...

North Carolina appeals court upholds ruling that kept Confederate monument in place

Mar. 19, 2024 18:49 PM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court ruled Tuesday that local leaders who refused calls to remove a Confederate monument from outside a county courthouse acted in a constitutional manner and kept in place the statue at its longtime location in accordance with state law. ...