Texas NAACP

The Texas State Conference would like to congratulate our future leaders, the Texas State Youth and College Division.  Between the State Conference and Sam Houston State University Texas walked away with 10 awards, including College Chapter of the Year and Youth Advisor of the Year, during the National Convention Youth Freedom Fund Banquet.  Once again congratulations are in order to State Youth President Jonathon Lewis, State Youth Advisor Ericka Cain and Sam Houston State University Chapter President Arielle Phillips.  Ya’ll represented Texas well and we are all proud of you.

The Texas NAACP is proud to announce our newly formed partnership with Veggie Pals.  We will be working together to form the Texas NAACP/Veggie Pals Health and Wellness Initiative.  Information about the initiative will be posted soon.  To find out information about Veggie Pals you can go to www.veggiepal.com

The Texas NAACP applauds the efforts of all of the great people who worked so hard to try and move our nation forward and ensure that our children know the truth of our history so that mistakes will not be repeated and we can continue to build on them effectively.  The Board Members who voted to postpone the process should all be given a special thanks because they did all that they could to try and right the SBOE ship.  Though the valiant group on the Board did fight effectively and bring out some real positive changes in the document, it is still a document that is politically weighted and racially and ethnically biased (in the least).  Teaching about Confederate soldiers in a positive light under the guise of the War Between the States being about states rights and not slavery is just beyond the pale and an example of why politicians should not be entrusted with making such a decision.  The Texas Declaration of Causes makes it very clear why Texas seceded from the union.  Special thanks goes to Board Members Mavis Knight and Lawrence Allen for diligently trying to salvage the history of African-Americans in our textbooks and to Secretary of Education Rod Paige and National President of the NAACP Ben Jealous who brought such integrity and reality to the discussion.  The bottom line is we should not brainwash our students, so instead of just saying that we must go forward as is proposed we must work with the brave Legislators who spoke against these proposals and the other advocacy groups like ours who stood up for what was right to come up with the right approach to make sure that our children are not denied their future.

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Every 10 years the Texas State Board of Education is required by law to update the social studies & history books.  The revisions currently suggested will have a harmful effect on all Texas Students and particularly African American and Latino students not just in Texas. Some of the proposed changes are:

• Paint the confederacy in a positive way, disavowing the Texas Declaration of Causes which was passed by the people of Texas in order to secede from the Union and fight for the Confederacy, a document which made it clear that Texas was fighting for the Confederacy because it believed in white supremacy
• Attempts to rewrite the civil rights era
• Refusal to recognize terroristic acts not related to Islam including the U.S. Calvary against American Indians, the Texas Rangers against Mexican Americans & for decades by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups right here in our own country
• No longer calling American a democracy.  It will now be referred to as a Constitutional Republic
• Refusal to identify Tejano leaders who died at the Alamo, but students will learn about Confederate leaders or Black Texans who were of vital importance in Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico.  The first person who dies for the Texans was Samuel McCullough who was of African-descent, and one of the most legendary leaders of the Texas troops was Hendrick Arnold who is even honored at the Alamo.  Arnold was also of African-descent.
• While wanting to increase pride of our country they want to ignore or rename anything negative to paint a false picture of our past.  Like no longer calling it American Imperialism, instead it will be referred to as Expansionism.  Capitalism will no longer will be used in the books they think it has a negative connotation.  The words Free Enterprise will now be used

• Many suggestions made do not have anything to do with history, but political beliefs & ideologies.
• Refusal to teach that the Texas revolution was started primarily because of the desire to own slaves and the desire not to become Catholic as provided for in the independence document itself.

They voted down an amendment to have students understand why the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.

Click on the link below and add your voice of protest. Let the Texas State Board of Education know that you stand against rewriting history.  Also below you will find the color coordinated proposed changes and testimony given by State President Gary Bledsoe, San Antonio President Marvinette Smith and Legislative Liaison Yannis Banks

• Petition
• Elementary Proposals
• Middle Proposal
• High School Proposals
• President Bledose Testimony
• President Smith Testimony
• Yannis Banks Testimony

The fight for freedom is not free! Membership in the NAACP is your opportunity to give back to the organization that has done more to change this country for the betterment of people of color, women, and the disenfranchised than any other in the nation’s history

Five Reasons to Join the NAACP

1. The fight for freedom is not free! Your membership will help fund initiatives and programs to support our mission of racial equality and equal justice
2. A membership in the NAACP is your opportunity to give back to the organization that has done more to change this country for the betterment of people of color, women, and the disenfranchised than any other in the nation’s history
3. Your membership in the NAACP makes you a part of a force of 300,000 people who stand for the freedoms guaranteed in our nation’s constitution
4. Your membership in the NAACP makes a direct and positive impact in your community when you join your local Unit
5. Your membership in the NAACP will give you access to our upcoming benefits program that provides discounts on products and services across the country

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