NAACP
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657 E Court St.
Kankakee Il.60901
Suite 205
P.O. Box 1986
Kankakee il 60901
Phone 815-932-0858
Fax 815-939-0568
naacpkanb@aol.com
shared belief that all people, of every color, are entitled to
dignity and respect as human beings. We have always
held to the use of peaceful, democratic means in the
pursuit of that mission, even in the face of violent hatred
and oppression.
As fighters for freedom, dignity and equal justice under
the law, we need not ask ourselves "why is ours a lofty
mission," for we know. Many of our ancestors lived
without freedom, as indentured servants, in what was to
become known as the "peculiar institution of American
Slavery."
We learned the hard way that emancipation did not
necessarily mean the end of oppression. Many of us grew
up in the other America, forced to see firsthand the signs
that read "for white only", and made to live under a system
that resulted daily in the denial of rights and the
disallowing of liberties.
Thus it was both proper and fitting that the NAACP would
fight for nearly a Century to procure those rights, to savor
those liberties, and to insist on equal justice under the law
for all people.
Progress has been made through the span of that time.
We don't deny that, we celebrate it. Victories have been
won and racism has been challenged, we acknowledge
that. Yet we must choose to remember, so that we will
never be prone to forget.
If we are to be defined, then let it be as fighters for
freedom and fair play. For we remain, as we have been,
the conscience of America and the manifestation of great
will against overwhelming odds.
For
N.A.A.C.P.
National
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