NAACP Supports "The Southern Student Rights Appeal"

Amari Fennoy, NAACP GA Youth & College State President;  Wisdom Cole, NAACP Youth & College Division National Director; and Ivory Toldson, Ph.D., NAACP Director of Education Innovation and Research released the following statements in support of the Southern Student Rights Appeal (A Continuation of An Appeal for Human Rights dated March 9, 1960):

I am extremely proud of the GA HBCUs that stepped up and supported this effort. As a Spelman Alumnae, we constantly heard about the Atlanta sit-ins in 1960 and the letter that was written and led by Spelman students. Right now, there are several bills that will disenfranchise Black voters, are anti-trans, are misogynistic, and are trying to mute the history of Black and Brown individuals. Sixty-two years later, Spelman alumnae and students are helping to recruit other HBCUs to continue to assert that we are done being complacent and we will ensure that our voices are heard. We now have Albany State and Fort Valley actively involved in revising this letter. It speaks volumes about how united our HBCUs are in making a stand for change! - Amari Fennoy, NAACP GA Youth & College State President

HBCU students and Black students across the nation are sick and tired of legislation that undermines our future. We must continue to ensure that young people have a voice when it comes to the legislation because anything about us cannot be without us. Youth & College student leaders are standing in solidarity with the Atlanta Student movement as we continue to fight for our education, voting rights, and inclusivity on all levels. - Wisdom Cole, NAACP Youth & College Division National Director 

Activism among emerging adults is imperative for justice. Young adults have a unique vantage point; being mature enough to understand what is right and young enough to have a greatest vested interest in living in a nation that works for all. So when college students in Georgia say the legislature is not working for them, we better listen, and listen well. They were on the right side of history when they formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 62 years ago. And they are right today to stand against willful ignorance and bigotry in legislation. As the director of Education Innovation and Research for the NAACP, I fully support the southern student rights appeal. I encourage the 2000+ education chairs of NAACP units nationally to see this action as a call to action to kill all bills that threaten an equitable future and work to amplify good legislation that will advance our beautiful and diverse nation forward. - Ivory Toldson, Ph.D., NAACP Director of Education Innovation and Research