Notice of NAACP Branch Election The Greater Waterbury Branch of the NAACP will hold elections for its’ Officer and Executive Committee positions on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at the North End Recreation Center, 268 North Main St., Waterbury. Polls will be open from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. In order to vote in a Branch election you must be a member of the Branch, in good standing of the Branch, 30 days prior to the election. Identification is required. Now a Stamford High School graduate, Candace Owens and her father Robert Owens, filed the lawsuit against the board of education on May 24, 2007 in New Haven federal court for "knowingly failing and refusing to protect" his daughter from continued harassment with students who left death threats and both racial and sexual slurs on her cell phone's voice mail this spring, when she was a student at the school. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Norman Pattis, of Bethany, in New Haven district court, alleged that the board of education took no action on Owens' behalf after she and her family reported a series of threatening phone calls on her cell phone to school authorities. The voice mail contained two minutes of death threats, racial slurs and sexual epithets recorded by three or four male voices, allegedly white, male classmates of Owens, who is black. In one message, the callers take turns making death threats. In another, a single racial slur is repeated over and over. Neither Pattis nor Robert Owens returned phone calls. The family informed the school of the threats and the identity of the callers on Feb. 5, according to the lawsuit. "Despite the facts above, the defendant has taken no disciplinary action whatsoever [against] any of the callers, all of whom have been identified as students at Stamford High School," states the lawsuit. "Upon information and belief, the defendant failed to act in part because one of the callers is the son of Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy." Malloy confirmed in March that his son is involved in the case and has cooperated fully with the police investigation. The mayor has made no further comments. The Owens allege in their lawsuit that their daughter was subjected to harassment in and out of school, and was tutored at home because she was unable to attend school, while the young men who allegedly harassed her were still in school. "The conduct of the defendant described above has been extreme and outrageous and has been carried out with actual knowledge that it will probably cause Ms. Owens to suffer extreme emotional distress and in reckless and or malicious and wanton disregard of such consequence," states the lawsuit. The Owens sought compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees and costs. At least one of the students alleged to have left the voice mails has been arrested. The 17-year-old connected with her case was arrested on March 26, the day that Owens returned to school, accompanied by representatives from the Connecticut NAACP. In September, Arnold confirmed that none of the students involved in the case are now students at Stamford High. ...additional information regarding case click here
In loving memory of our beloved member and friend Addie H. Booker (November 18, 1911 - December 29, 2007) Waterbury-Addie H. Booker, 96, of 38 Camp St., entered Heaven’s Gate from Abbott Terrace on December 29, 2007, surrounded by her loving and faithful family. She was the widow of Cicero B. Booker read more click here
National News: NAACP Joins Eli Lilly Lawsuit; Hate Mail To 10 Yale Students Investigated; Connecticut is the leader in noose incidents read more click here . Worker wants answers after noose discovery read more click here.. CT NAACP Tackles Racism Today in Plainfield...read more click .. Connecticut was a slave state. Does that sound wrong? Does it feel wrong? It shouldn't. Connecticut has a history to confront as much as any Southern state. more info click here
	The Bounty Hunter Duane Chapman's 5 Minute Racist Rant This video contain foul language Do you think that he is really sorry for this rant?
Complicity. How Connecticut Chained Itself To Slavery. Connecticut was a slave state. Does that sound wrong? Does it feel wrong? It shouldn't. Connecticut has a history to confront as much as any Southern state.read more click here We have officially created a Slavery Steering Committee for the CT NAACP State Conference, and we need many of you to participate actively. The Chairman of the Committee is Mr. Craig Kelly; the President of the Bridgeport Branch. You can contact him via email at: kelly2843@sbcglobal.net
EDITORIALS..December 2007 ..Track Down Noose Criminals ...Hate Crime? Failure to prosecute sends wrong message read more click here
NAACP Press Conference Who: Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches What: Press Conference Where: Royal Bank of Scotland (600 Washington Blvd. Stamford, CT) Call for Date and Time Re: A Noose was found at the RBS Construction Site Contracted by Turner Construction at the Corner of Washington Blvd and Richmond Hill Ave in Downtown Stamford, CT. A few African American Construction Workers found the Noose; took pictures of it and reported it to their Supervisors. The workers reported to the NAACP that the Noose was found on the morning of Thursday Nov.15th, 2007. Attached below is the picture that the workers forwarded to the CT State NAACP.
Steelworker wants answers after noose discovery Email this story By Monica Potts By Monica Potts Staff Writer Published November 20 2007 STAMFORD - A steelworker at the downtown Royal Bank of Scotland construction site said yesterday he found a noose at the site on two occasions last week and reported both incidents to his supervisors, who he claims did not stop the behavior or report it to authorities. "I've worked from Rhode Island to Georgia, from Georgia to Chicago, and I never in my life have seen something like this," said Taron Huckabee, 42, of Atlanta.... read more click here
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR INFORMATION: November 14, 2007 860-727-9962 CT NAACP Tackles Racism Today in Plainfield ‘We’re Trying to Avoid Another Jena 6,’ President Says HARTFORD – Felicia Williams had no idea when she moved to Plainfield that she and her son would be so close to Louisiana. Williams and her 16-year-old son are considering moving from the town they moved to less than six months ago after a series of racial incidents that have resulted in her son’s hospitalization. In order to highlight the family’s issue and the Town’s failure to properly respond, the State NAACP will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. TODAY in front of the Plainfield Police Department, 210 Norwich Street, Plainfield. “We’re trying to avoid another Jena 6,” said State Conference NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile. “Those young men responded to ongoing racism. Here, we have a young man who has been verbally and physically abused because of the color of his skin and the town has not responded appropriately. We’re demanding justice for the Williams family.” The family moved to the Moosup section of Plainfield in July 2007, and began experiencing racial tension almost immediately. Since that time, her son has been called a “n*gger” by a white student and was physically assaulted by a group of white students while waiting for the school bus; that assault resulted in his hospitalization. In addition, the family was harassed by a group at their home; during that incident, the group pounded on the family’s door and demanded that “[the] n*gger come out.” Although the school has offered Williams’ son a van ride to school, the incident has left him traumatized and he is refusing to return to school. He has not attended class since October 19, 2007.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 2, 2007 Contact: Richard J. McIntire (410) 580-5787 NAACP HOSTS SECOND CIVIL RIGHTS SCHOOL AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY The NAACP will host “Artists and Activists” -- Birth of a Nation and the Harlem Renaissance to The Cosby Show and Hot Ghetto Mess, a town hall meeting, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Friday, Nov. 9 at the university’s Blackburn Center starting at 7:30 p.m. The town hall meeting is part of the NAACP’s second Civil Rights School (CRS) being held to support and launch the NAACP centennial celebration. A special free screening of the movie adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun” starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan and John Stamos will also be part of the event. read more click here

MINORITY FACES RARE ON WATERBURY BALLOT CANDIDATES FEW IN RELATION TO POPULATION FIGURES
By Steave Gambini
Republican~American

WATERBURY — Based on raw population data, minorities are again underrepresented among the political candidates seeking to lead the city.

Why African-Americans and Hispanics do not participate Waterbury's civic life in proportion to their 38.1 percent of the population remains an item of debate among political and civic leaders — and few agree on how to change it....read more click here

IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 2007

Jimmy Griffin

For Release:

Jimmie Griffin, president of the Greater Waterbury NAACP said today he is outraged with the politics being played on the part of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools concerning the location of a public school in the city's North End.

Griffin said, " I cannot understand why a meeting to get input from the residents of the North End is so urgent, when the residents and board members have already voiced their support for the Robinson Street site." "As far a environmental problems are concerned, there needs to be an effort to begin cleaning up our neighborhoods in the minority community and if we don't do it now it will never get done." he added.

Griffin said , " We in the minority community must understand that neither the board of alderman or education has any members who live in the North End and could care less in most cases what happens for the good of our people up here." " We must begin to hold our elected officials accountable and it doesn't matter what color they are."

The NAACP knows about environmental racism and how it has destroyed our inner city neighborhoods and the issue is when do we build anything that infuses positive economic development and eliminates blight and other hazardous waste conditions at the same time.

RELEASE August 2007

Contact: Richard J. McIntire

(410) 580-5787

Reversing the Dropout Crisis for African Americans

As parents, educators, school boards and students prepare for the 2007-2008 school year, the NAACP Educaiton Department offers the following points for consideration.

There is a major crisis in our high schools that it is disproportionately affecting students of color. Unacceptably large high school dropout rates are threatening to derail the hopes and aspirations of our community as well as the future of our most precious resource – our children.

Approximately 1 million children drop out of school each year. Nearly 50 percent of African American students who drop out are leaving school with less than two years left to complete their high school education.There is clearly a need for focused, deliberate action to reverse this trend.

Consider the statistical profile for a student of color leaving high school without obtaining a regular high school diploma as compiled recently by the Alliance for Excellent Education

· In the 2006–07 school year, 1.2 million students failed to graduate with their class; a majority of these non-graduates were racial and ethnic minorities (EPE Research Center 2007).

· In the 2003–04 school year, only 53.4 percent of black students, 49.3 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students, and 57.8 percent of Hispanic students graduated on time (EPE Research Center 2007).

· In the 2003–04 school year, only 46.2 percent of Black boys, 44.6 percent of American Indian and Alaska native boys, and 52.3 percent of Hispanic boys graduated on time (EPE Research Center 2007).

· Graduation rates for Asian Pacific American (APA) students are unaccounted for and their needs often overlooked because existing data is not disaggregated to illustrate the dire circumstances of many students from various APA communities.

· The nation’s minority students are four times more likely to attend a high school with very low graduation rates (60 percent or lower) than the nation’s non-minority students (Balfanz and Legters 2004).

Current research shows conclusively that students of color who fail to graduate from high school are more likely to be unemployed, on public assistance programs, incarcerated, in poor health, and more likely to die at younger ages. The NAACP’s 2001 Call for Action in Education is the Association’s organic guide for education reform and advocacy.

Based on that document, the NAACP Education Department proposes the following 10-point plan of action for arresting and reversing the dropout trend among African American high school students:

1. Schools and districts must work closely and aggressively with NAACP units and state conferences to involve parents and entire communities more intimately in the educational process of young people in that community.

2. Closely and consistently monitor student progress through a variety of assessment and evaluation methods beyond one high stakes standardized test.

3. Involve local business, community colleges, and technical/vocational institutions in cooperative partnerships that provide alternate routes to receiving a regular high school diploma.

4. Standardize the methods for defining, calculating and reporting on dropout rates for all students.

5. Develop programs EARLY that are designed to prevent students from dropping out.

6. Ensure that teachers and administrators have the resources and support necessary to educate all students.

7. Hold schools accountable for decreasing their dropout rates and increasing their graduation rates.

8. End the over-identification and under-servicing of minority students in special education programs.

9. Provide schools with the resources to ensure that curricular material is culturally relevant.

10. Decrease resource inequities between and among schools.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

Richard J. McIntire
Director of Communications
NAACP-HQ
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Balto., MD 21215
410/580-5787
rmcintire@naacpnet.org

(410) 580-5787

NAACP joins campaign for high school equity

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People joined several other national civil rights organizations June 19 to formally launch the Campaign for High School Equity. The goal of the campaign is to ensure that America's secondary schools have the capacity and motivation to prepare every student for graduation, college, work, and life.

The goals of the Campaign for High School Equity are to:

Provide a unique and important perspective on federal and national education policy issues critical to high school reform;
Educate diverse communities about the need and options for serious reforms in high school education; and
Engage in strategic advocacy activities that mobilize constituencies to push for changes that produce positive outcomes for students of color and low-income students.
One-third of the nation's high school students do not graduate, and the rates are even higher for students of color. In the 2002-03 school year, only 51.6 percent of black students, 47.4 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native students, and 55.6 percent of Hispanic students graduated on time (EPE Research Center 2006). The graduation rate among Asian and Pacific Islander students cannot be accurately determined because current data collection methods do not distinguish by ethnic group. However, empirical evidence suggests that many of these students are experiencing similar challenges.

“The statistical profile of educational equity, access, and achievement for students of color is far too bleak,” said NAACP National Education Director Michael T.S. Wotorson. “Our organizations have come together to address these disparities ultimately to safeguard democracy.”

The Campaign for High School Equity's inaugural publication, A Plan for Success: Communities of Color Define Policy Priorities for High School Reform declares that it is not too late to invest in the development of students once they reach high school and provides a blueprint for meaningful reform:

Make all students proficient and prepared for college and work;
Hold high schools accountable for student success;
Redesign the American high school;
Provide students with the excellent leaders and teachers they need to succeed; and
Invest communities in student success.
The Campaign for High School Equity boasts a diverse membership, particularly known and respected for their leadership and historic roles in the civil rights movement. They are: the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, the National Council of La Raza, the National Indian Education Association, the National Urban League, and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. The convener and coordinator of the Campaign is the Alliance for Excellent Education, a national policy and advocacy organization that focuses on improving the country’s secondary schools.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

Richard J. McIntire
Sr. PR Specialist
NAACP-HQ
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Balto., MD 21215
410/580-5787
rmcintire@naacpnet.org