In Support of Federal Oversight in Response to Actions that Restrict and Erode Reparative Policies

WHEREAS, the NAACP has long stood in favor of financial reparations to African Americans and persons of African descent in the United States who are descendants of slavery and the Jim Crow Era; and

WHEREAS, the NAACP's original policy position, as embodied in H.R. 40, demands that the United States Government commence hearings and a study commission to examine the issue of reparations; and

WHEREAS, history reflects that federal, state and local governments have facilitated particularized harm to Black communities based in racial animus; and

WHEREAS, history reflects that federal oversight has also served a critical role to ensure that states and localities address historic inequity; and

WHEREAS, policy and legislation enacted through the Executive Branch and the current administration through its focus on racial justice presents targeted approaches to reduce historic social inequity imposed on Black Americans; and

WHEREAS, since the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 until today, racist backlash from specific federal, state, and local policymakers has targeted the agency of Black Americans while seeking to erode voting rights, reduce federal investment in Black communities, and end federal oversight of reparative policy solutions.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP reaffirms past support for a Reparations policy expressed in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2016, 2019, and 2022.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP supports prescriptive federal oversight of state and local actions that perennially focus on eroding the progress of Black Americans and other people of color.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP will establish mechanisms for its units to report on state and local actions that erect barriers, erode social and economic progress, and diminish civic engagement by Black Americans and other people of color.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP demands that the federal government restrict funding to any state or locality found to engage in activity that hinders, erodes, or reduces gains of Black Americans in reparative economic or social justice, fairness in the application of the law, voting rights, and other measures targeted at reducing historic harm.