Texas NAACP President, Gary Bledsoe statement on the actions of the SBOE
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.
Gary Bledsoe’s Response to the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act
The Texas NAACP, a party in the recent Northwest Austin MUD case just decided by the United States Supreme Court, applauds the decision because of the majority’s respect for the rule to be applied in all Supreme Court decisions–taking the least obtrusive legal alternative reasonably available. Though the Northwest Austin MUD is no longer covered by the Act, the Act still remains strong and in effect. However, because we know that additional challenges will take place as a result of this opinion, we will conduct hearings around our state to continue to gather the necessary data to thwart such efforts. We will also reach out to our allies like the League of United Latin American Citizens to work with us in this endeavor.
The history of Section 5 enforcement in Texas fully demonstrates why it is imperative that Section 5 remain the law of the land. Texas has drawn more Section 5 objections than any other covered state. Texas has the largest number of minority voters of all states covered by Section 5. African-American voters in Waller County continue to suffer from voter intimidation and other irregularities as recent as last May’s elections. Further, our work has allowed us to determine that acts of intimidation or other irregularities are commonplace.  They stem from improper use of police and mailboxes in Fort Worth this decade, the burning down of a home of a white county commissioner whose wife was supporting an African-American sheriff’s candidate in Wharton County in this last decade or even the indictment of Prairie View A & M students for wrongfully voting when they were doing so legally and with the intended protections of opinions of the United States Supreme Court. No area of the state is devoid of such problematic behavior.
Thurgood Marshall and the Texas NAACP Connection
Thurgood Marshall is known for many things. He won the Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education, he was the founder and 1st president-director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and he was the 1st African American Justice on the Supreme Court amongst many other accomplishments. What isn’t as widely known is the connection of Thurgood Marshall and the Texas NAACP. Below is a link to a document that describes their connection.
Predatory Lending Lawsuit
For Assistance against Predatory Lending
The NAACP filed suit in Los Angeles federal court against 14 of the country’s largest lenders, alleging systematic, institutionalized racism in sub-prime home mortgage lending. This is the first known lawsuit that challenges such lending practices on a broad scale. The suit was announced at the NAACP’s 98th annual convention, themed “Power Beyond Measure,†in Detroit through July 12.
According to the lawsuit, African American homeowners who received sub-prime mortgage loans from these lenders were more than 30 percent more likely to be issued a higher rate loan than Caucasian borrowers with the same qualifications.
“We are asking our members and all African American borrowers who bought or refinanced a home in the last five years to come forward and tell us their stories or at least re-examine their mortgages,†said NAACP National Board of Directors Chairman Julian Bond. “They can help us correct these egregious, demoralizing practices that too often turn the so-called American dream of homeownership into a nightmare.â€
Other studies cited in the lawsuit demonstrate that disparities are pervasive. In fact, upper income African Americans are more than twice as likely to receive higher cost loans as their lower income white counterparts. Just this morning, USA Today reported that the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s most recent study underscores this point, finding that discrimination against minorities persists in mortgage lending. The Federal Reserve Board, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the FDIC have all made similar observations.
“Lenders named in the suit, on average, made high cost sub-prime loans to higher qualified African Americans 54 percent of the time, compared to 23 percent of the time for Caucasians,†said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes.
Mortgage lenders named in the lawsuit include: Ameriquest, Fremont Investment & Loan, Option One, WMC Mortgage, Long Beach Mortgage, BNC Mortgage, Accredited Home Lenders, Encore Credit, Bear Sterns First Franklin Financial, HSBC Finance and Washington Mutual.
“The NAACP is bringing this suit as part of its longstanding demand that offending lenders stop discriminatory practices and bring their activities into compliance with federal law including the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Civil Rights Act,†said NAACP Interim General Counsel Angela Ciccolo.
Even when creditworthiness and other risk characteristics are accounted for, African Americans are still significantly more likely to get higher rate loans. According to the lawsuit, these statistical disparities are not mere coincidences, but instead are a result of systematic and predatory targeting of African-Americans borrowers.
“My credit record warrants a better interest rate,†said Amara Weaver of the Waukesha County NAACP in Wisconsin, whose mortgage was shifted to a sub-prime lender immediately after closing on a property in her neighborhood that had been a drug den. “As a professional if I get treated that way, I know those who are less fortunate are victimized more often. This situation lets me know I can’t expect equal treatment and that is frustrating.â€
“It’s extremely frustrating,†added Michelle Allison of the NAACP’s Merced Branch in California’s Central Valley. She refinanced with a major lender and was locked into a prepayment loan and now owes $100,000 above what she initially requested. “It’s like being over a barrel. I just wanted to be treated fairly and receive the best service. I was not given options or enough information for me to make an alternate decision. I want to get back to where I was financially before I received my loan.â€
NAACP branches across the nation are addressing the predatory lending issue. In Michigan, the Detroit branch’s executive director Heaster Wheeler chairs the state’s Predatory Lending Task Force. He and others have met with Gov. Jennifer Granholm who has instructed the state insurance and banking commissioner as well the state’s civil rights office to coordinate with the branch to craft further legislation and use their authority more strictly to enforce current laws. The Washington, D.C. Branch has partnered with the American Association of Retired Persons. Through workshops, seminars, church meetings and other gatherings it has been discovered that the typical predatory lending victim in that city is an elderly African American female who is single and on social security. They are encouraged to refinance for home improvements and other reasons. The NAACP’s Connecticut State Conference has a committee to address predatory lending issues and has been actively engaged in assisting individuals in their cases. They are also encouraging legislative action and are conducting community education initiatives.
In addition to the NAACP’s Legal Department, the organization and the proposed class of its members are represented by Feazell & Tighe LLP of Austin and Kabatek Brown Kellner LLP of Los Angeles and the law office of Gary L. Bledsoe.
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 the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.