NAACP demands policies to thwart hate-fueled crime
NEW YORK — The nation’s oldest civil rights organization will propose a sweeping plan aimed at protecting Black Americans from white supremacist violence in response to a hate-fueled massacre that killed 10 Black people in Buffalo last weekend.
In a plan first shared with the Associated Press, the NAACP suggests a policy approach to stopping future acts of anti-Black domestic terrorism that involves law enforcement, business regulation and gun control. The proposal points to measures that could be taken up immediately by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Specifically, the plan calls for holding accountable any corporation that is complicit in the spread of bigotry and racism through news media and on social platforms, for enacting gun violence prevention measures that keep masscasualty weapons out of the hands of would-be assailants and for reforming police practices so Black Americans experience the same de-escalation tactics often used to apprehend murderous white supremacists.
Saturday’s premeditated attack by an avowed racist on Black shoppers at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo made it clear that “democracy and white supremacy cannot co-exist,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
The NAACP revealed its proposal as Black leaders across the country fear inaction on the part of elected leaders to prevent domestic terror attacks by white supremacists against Black Americans. From Tulsa, Okla., and Birmingham, Ala., to Charleston, S.C., and Charlottesville, Va., generations of Americans have not seen the rising death toll from such violence met with urgent legislation to prevent or reduce the threat.
The House passed legislation late Wednesday that would bolster federal resources to prevent domestic terrorism in response to the mass shooting. Supporters of the House bill say it will help officials better track and respond to the growing threat of white extremist terrorism. But the bill still has to receive approval from the Senate.
“We need to know that our top leaders in America react and respond when we are hurt, too,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family of Ruth Whitfield, 86, who was killed in the Buffalo attack.
The NAACP’s policy proposal seeks systemic changes that look beyond just punishing racist domestic terrorists after they have carried out mass murder.
The civil rights group takes to task Fox News, the cable news channel it accuses of using airtime “to sow bigotry and racism, create dissension, spread misinformation, and promote conspiracy theories that continually encourage violence.”
It also namechecked Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has openly discussed on air the baseless “great replacement” conspiracy theory cited by the Buffalo gunman. The conspiracy is a racist ideology, which has moved from white nationalist circles to mainstream, that says white people and their influence are being “replaced” by people of color.
The NACCP also called on advertisers, including the National Football League, to take a moral stand against the cable news outlet by withholding their ad dollars.
The NAACP also calls for the creation of a “domestic terror watch list” and the banning of those on the list from purchasing a firearm.