KNOW THE ISSUES
Learn more about the issues NAACP tackles every day to dismantle racism and build Black political, social, and economic power.
Race & Justice
When we talk about race and justice, we're talking about the ways that discrimination, policing, prosecutions, and incarceration practices impact Black communities.
Our criminal justice system is shaped by biased policing and unfair judicial precedents, rooted in anti-Blackness and racial disparity. The emotional, mental, physical, and financial impact on our communities is a tangible experience for millions of Black people in the U.S. The cost of an unjust justice system is high.
- Black people are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
- 65 percent of Black adults have felt targeted because of their race. Similarly, approximately 35 percent of Latino and Asian adults have felt targeted because of race.
Education Innovation
Every child deserves an opportunity to reach their full potential. But our education systems are collapsing under inequity, and it's mostly because of poverty. Students who experience severe economic obstacles perform worse than students who have access to more wealth.
To bridge these gaps and ensure that all children get a real chance at a fulfilling education, we need to address systemic racism and poverty as tangible barriers to learning and future achievement.
Every Black student deserves access to great teaching, equitable resources, and a safe learning environment from grade school classrooms to college campuses. Black students matter and working on their behalf has never been more urgent.
Environmental Justice
Environmental and climate justice is a civil rights issue. We all depend on the physical environment and its bounty.
Toxic facilities, like coal-fired power plants and incinerators, emit mercury, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants into the water, food, and lungs of communities. Many of these same facilities also emit carbon dioxide and methane — the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers of climate change. But not all people are equally impacted. Race — even more than class — is the number one indicator for the placement of toxic facilities in this country hit by climate change.
Inclusive Economics
The so-called American dream is out of reach. A great deal of research confirms what we already know — investments in communities of color are paramount to mitigating racism and historic disinvestment. Existing policy is insufficient.
- White families typically make 10 times that of Black families, one of many financial gaps that come from decades of discriminatory policies and nearly three centuries of slavery.
- There are extreme disparities in employment, home ownership, and housing affordability in the Black community.
- Closing the revenue gap between Black and white businesses would generate an additional $290 billion for the U.S. economy.
The lack of racial equity in how the American economy functions severely impacts Black people, who are systematically restricted from being fully realized participants. Economic equity is a crucial part of establishing holistic racial equity for Black people. It's not just important that Black people be able to contribute to the economy as workers and consumers, but also as owners with the same access to resources and chance at success as anyone.
Health & Well-being
Everyone has a right to good health and well-being, but America's promise has fallen short. Individual health does not exist in a vacuum. It is tied to the community conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age. For people of color, geography, income, and race are longstanding predictors of health outcomes. The roots of historic inequity run deep in fragmented public and private health systems and disadvantaged opportunities across the lifespan.
NAACP is committed to ending racial health disparities. Our aim is not simply disease prevention, but to create an inclusive culture of healthy people and communities. We collaborate with communities through coordinated action to improve the social determinants of health — racism, poverty, exclusion, inferior schools, unsafe housing, poor nutrition, and toxic environments. We disrupt the status quo by working at the intersection of policy and systems change to drive sustainable impact for the sake of our future.
Throughout the world, the coronavirus pandemic has underscored how important it is for a healthy nation to offer its residents robust health care options. In the U.S., our collective unwillingness to ensure affordable, accessible, quality, and timely health care for all has cost too many Black lives and unnecessarily compromised our nation's health and economic security. The U.S. is overdue for a health care system that truly bolsters health for all its people rather than fragments them further.
Advocacy & Litigation
A thoughtful look at American history reveals that the nation's laws were never meant to serve Black Americans. But we strive to make the laws work for us through litigation at the national and local levels.
Through affirmative litigation, we aim to further our mission to ensure equitable treatment and opportunities when it comes to voting rights, education, economic empowerment, criminal justice, and health, including environmental justice. We initiate lawsuits and join as plaintiffs in state and federal cases.
We have, and will continue to, file cases that fight:
Unjust federal, state local statutes regulations
Discriminatory policies, practices procedures
Unlawful misconduct by public officers, private individuals, and companies that threaten civil rights
We don't do this work alone. We may partner with other civil rights organizations, law firms, and law schools to secure the resources necessary to assess and prosecute cases.
“My parents decision to sign me up for the Columbia NAACP Youth Council was one of the best decision they ever made. Through Youth Council I was mentored, taught, blackness is a gift, and encouraged to achieve great things because greatness is within me.”
Rev. Dominique Issac Grate, Assistant Vice President for Development at Jarvis Christian University & Life Member
CONTACT US
Physical Address: 1615 Pickens St., Columbia, SC 29201
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 11324, Columbia, SC 29201
Telephone: 803-256-8771
Email: colascbranchnaacp@gmail.com
© 2024 Columbia, SC Branch NAACP #5508. All rights reserved.
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