Past. Present. Future.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is one of the oldest and most prominent civil rights organizations in the United States. It was founded on February 12, 1909, in response to racial violence and discrimination against African Americans, particularly the 1908 Springfield race riot in Illinois. The organization was established by a group of activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, and others.
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The primary mission of the NAACP is to advocate for the civil rights and equality of African Americans and other marginalized communities. Over the years, the NAACP has played a pivotal role in addressing various forms of racial injustice, including segregation, voting rights discrimination, police brutality, and economic inequality.
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While the organization's name specifically mentions the advancement of colored people, the NAACP has expanded its mission to advocate for the rights of all marginalized communities, including racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities.
"We will not march back to what was. We move to what shall be, a country that is bruised, but whole. Benevolent, but bold. Fierce and free."
Amanda Gorman
Clearing Up Myths
The NAACP Arizona State Conference Legal Redress Committee does not act as your attorney, provide legal advice or pay for an attorney. The Legal Redress Committee does work with you to help identify options you may elect to pursue.
While the Legal Redress Committee cannot offer legal advice, we can be non-attorney advocates in mediation or other processes as appropriate. We can also help you identify attorneys or local, state, or federal agencies that may be able to assist you in addressing your complaint. If you believe that you have experienced a discriminatory cause for complaint on which the NAACP Arizona State Conference may help, you are encouraged to submit a Complaint Form. Please recognize that the NAACP Arizona State Conference can only provide limited assistance on some kinds of complaints. However, we are happy to discuss your complaint and try to lead you in the right direction to address your complaint.
Except for unusual circumstances, our Legal Redress Committee can act only after they have received your signed Complaint Form. We are not attorneys. Once an attorney has been retained, the NAACP ASC role will be very limited or not at all.
We want to help ensure that you are not taking conflicting steps with those you and your attorney decide to pursue.
It is important to know that the investigation/fact-finding process requires us to hear both sides of a dispute. Educating the community about civil rights and community building is very important to our mission within the NAACP. Therefore, it is our role to facilitate conversation between the two parties and, wherever possible, to mediate/negotiate a resolution that is amenable to both. There are occasions when individual cases of discrimination can uncover systemic discrimination, that is, discrimination throughout an entire business or other entity. In such a case, our local NAACP informs the Regional NAACP office.
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Finally, it is extremely important that you understand that Legal Redress is a volunteer committee.
This does not imply that we are lawyers or that we have judicial authority. Our Mission is to provide fact-finding, mediation, and to match needs with resources where and whenever possible. NAACP services are also contingent on the availability of funds and volunteers.
EEOC Complaint Link
Filing a Formal Complaint | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (eeoc.gov)
Arizona Attorney General
File a Consumer Complaint | Arizona Attorney General (azag.gov)
Community Legal Services