Our Petition to ‘Protect NAACP Members from Unfair Suspensions’ is Picking Up Steam - Thank You! WE HAVE OVER 100 SIGNATURES COLLECTIVELY CONSISTING OF COMMUNITY SUPPORTERS, WITNESSES, NAACP MEMBERS, AND VICTIMS ALIKE!
God has the support coming in from across the country, to “Protect NAACP Members from Unfair Suspensions!” Our goal was to get 50 signatures the first week of the petition. We surpassed that goal and received 60 signatures the first week.
Our next goal was to have 100 signatures by the end of week 2, which will be Saturday (2/24/24). However, through the grace of God, as of Tuesday, 2/20/24, we just surpassed our goal of 100, as we now have over 100 signatures just a little more than a week since the petition started 2/10/24!
Now that it has been confirmed that the justice community, activists, NAACP members, suspended NAACP members, supporters of those mistreated, etc., are willing to come together and sign this petition, let’s maximize the UNITY and number of signatures by sharing with other like-minded associates to show, without a doubt, we have the support needed to be heard loudly and clearly as we make the needed demands for accountability, changes in National NAACP leadership, and redress. Let’s strive for a total of 200 signature by March 2nd.
Signatures are coming in from witnesses, suspended victims, and supporters from North Carolina, Philadelphia, California, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Montgomery, Washington, Colorado, and other areas.
Further, we expect to see new numbers coming in from Oklahoma as it has been brought to my attention that the Oklahoma NAACP President has recently been placed on a long-term suspension by National NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and the Oklahoma President doesn’t know why.
It is also my understanding that the first woman elected to the Compton NAACP Branch is being mistreated; her growth is being suppressed; in her recent attempt to be elected to the National NAACP Board of Directors on 2/17/24, she appears to have gotten more votes than her opponent, but she was denied her right to be elected. The National NAACP announced her defeat but failed to provide the voting numbers.
Similarly, the woman - president of the Greater Sacramento NAACP, who was the longest serving branch president in her area; poised to defeat the incumbent California State NAACP President, was suspended without due process days prior to the election. A total of 6 Sacramento NAACP members were simultaneously suspended without due process.
In Philadelphia, the first Black woman elected to serve as Sheriff in Philly, who served as branch Secretary and worked diligently and years with the local NAACP youth, was suspended for 6 years without due process.
In North Carolina, not only was I suspended without due process (going on 5 years), just before I was poised to win the NC NAACP Presidency in 2019 (to this day, the 2019 NC NAACP election was never held) in 2022, both the NC NAACP Treasurer and State Secretary were suspended suddenly and without due process - making them ineligible to seek re-election in 2023 and their future as an NAACP civil rights worker uncertain.
The NC NAACP State Secretary Sylvia Barnes, had successfully served as State Secretary for 28 years. Yet, when she attempted to attend the 2023 NC NAACP State Convention, she was humiliated; treated like a criminal; asked to leave; and several police arrived to remove this elderly civil rights icon from the hotel where the convention was held.
After nearly 30 years of serving as one of our hardest working NC NAACP Queens, Barnes was treated worse than most people would treat their dogs. Her biggest crime was she loved and wanted to remain associated with her NC NAACP friends at the NC NAACP convention.
God is bringing some of us together and we are giving this, what I see as a “Civil Rights State of Emergency,” the attention it needs whether certain confused ones like it or not; we will not be silenced no matter who attempt to close our mouths; we refuse to allow false narratives, corrupt poli-tricks, self-aggrandizement, and power-abuses to have the last word - it is not ‘CIVIL’ and it is not ‘RIGHT.’
Thank you for taking this stand with us! We will not allow, without a “good fight,” anyone to continue to break countless good spirits and stigmatize more and more good names of freedom warriors who should be celebrated and elevated rather than degraded and unjustly humiliated, under the mighty NAACP banner that our foremothers and forefathers’ blood brought to fruition.
In pursuit of justice always,
Rev. Curtis E. Gatewood
gatewoodlovesjustice@gmail.com
“A threat to justice anywhere” REMAINS “a threat to justice everywhere!”
LINK TO PETITION:
https://www.change.org/STOP-Wrongful-NAACP-Suspensions
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Zoom meeting to further discuss these wrongful suspensions and related issues, is scheduled for Thursday, February 22nd, at 8p EST.
You may participate in Thursday’s meeting by clicking onto the link below:
Zoom Link to Join “The Good Fight” Against Unfair NAACP Suspensions scheduled for Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 8PM EST: