Join me for our February DC NAACP Monthly Meeting.
Please renewed your membership or plan to join.
Meeting details below.
DC NAACP Membership Chair
Shirley Rivens Smith
2000 Upshur St., NE
Washington, DC 20018
202-635-3138
NAACP DC WILL HOST DR. BENJAMIN CHAVIS AS GUEST SPEAKER FOR FEBRUARY MEETING
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. will be the Guest Speaker for the NAACP DC Branch February "Black History Month" General Body Meeting on Thursday, February 11, 2016. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. served as the National Executive Director & CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1993. At the time, he was the youngest person elected by the NAACP National Board of Directors to serve as CEO of the organization. During his tenure, Chavis introduced new priorities focusing the NAACP on environmental justice, economic empowerment and voter empowerment for communities of color. Dr. Chavis joined the NAACP at 12 years old and is a lifetime member of the organization.
In his youth, Chavis was an assistant to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten, a group of civil rights activists who were charged with committing arson. After the conviction of the entire group, Chavis received a sentence of 34 years in prison. Along with the other members of the Wilmington Ten, Chavis walked to his freedom in 1980 after the federal appeals court overturned the convictions.
During the 1980's, Dr. Chavis introduced the term "environmental racism," which correlates directly to many of the environmental injustices occurring in Flint, MI, Baltimore, MD and low-income communities nationwide. Dr. Chavis advocated against racial discrimination targeting minority communities for exposure to toxic waste and ineffective environmental policies. In 1986, Chavis published the landmark national study, "Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America," that revealed the correlation between race and toxic waste exposure.
Today, Chavis serves as President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a group focused on supporting and advocating for publishers of the nation's more than 200 black newspapers in the United States and the Virgin Islands. The group has a combined readership of 15 million. Chavis has also worked as CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip Hop Summit which he co-founded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and National Director of the Million Man March.
The February General Body Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 11, 2016 celebrating Black History Month. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm at the Thurgood Marshall Center, located at 1816 12th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009. The February meeting commemorates Black History Month and launches the NAACP's 2016 advocacy agenda including economic empowerment, health, education, political action and criminal justice.
For more information, please email naacp@naacpdc.org.
ABOUT NAACP:
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 premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. The mission of NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic quality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.
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Akosua Ali
President
NAACP DC Branch
1000 U Street, NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 667-1700 Office
(202) 810-4098 Cell
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