Dear NAACP Friends and Family,
2020 is a year most of us will be happy to forget. America was three years into the Trump presidency when the COVID-19 virus hit. Soon followed the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, protests from people who had had enough of dying, an election season that for the first time energized voters of all colors to support Black Lives. And then there was the election itself.
Throughout a year of national upheaval, the NAACP New Bedford Branch was out there fighting the good fight as well.
We called for the Massachusetts Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights to conduct independent investigations of Malcolm Gracia’s murder. We fought to pass police accountability reform at the state level and to offer relief for renters at risk of becoming homeless.
We engaged local officials in New Bedford and Fall River on police accountability, fought for reform on Native American/Indigenous issues, and met with local school administrators on addressing discrimination in hiring and eliminating armed police from City schools.
We responded to a national moment of compassion by partnering with community groups to conduct anti-racism workshops and engaging many new members.
And in the midst of a global pandemic, we raised our commitment to local graduating high school seniors by awarding $10,000 in scholarships, deployed poll watchers on Election Day, and somehow managed to complete much-needed repairs to the NAACP building on Cedar Street.
“Giving Tuesday” has become a day for showing kindness and generosity. We would like to thank the many friends and donors to the NAACP New Bedford Branch who kept our programs running this year. Next year the work still awaits us. Regardless of the Administration in Washington, we still face great racial problems, both nationally and locally.
Please help us continue our work.
Navigate to our donations page at https://naacpnewbedford.org/donate/ and donate what you can. Or mail your check made out to “NAACP New Bedford Branch” to
NAACP New Bedford Branch
95 Cedar Street
New Bedford, MA 02740
And if you are not yet a member of the Branch, please become a member and become active!
Sincerely,
LaSella L. Hall, PhD, President
