The Columbia County NAACP Chapter will attend the Moral Week of Action at the Arkansas State Capitol on Saturday. Moral Week of Action has been mobilized by the Arkansas Conference of NAACP Branches to “stand up against regressive policies passed by legislators and/or implemented by other public officials during the past few years,” a release stated. The Columbia County NAACP will be focusing on issues in the criminal justice and education systems.
“The NAACP all over, particularly in the South and the central part of the country, are participating in this Moral Week of Action,” Claudell Woods, president of the Columbia County Branch of the NAACP, said Thursday.
“We are talking about branches from all over the state coming together on these various days. Saturday is the day we are taking a lead but other branches will be there and we may go an additional day or two in the next week.”
“It is important because all of us are facing the same issues and dealing with some of the same concerns. We feel a need to express our feelings on it and it’s and opportune time to do it,” Woods said.
“We feel that this is an obligation. To do it in a form that the governor, state legislators and other policy makers will listen to us,” Woods said.
“We say things locally from time to time and individually, but every now and then, it is good to collectively have our voices heard.”
Around 10 to 15 people will be going on behalf of the county chapter.
“To have our voices heard, to express concern about the digression that is occurring in the country, state and in our area in this various issues,” Woods said of why it is important for the Columbia County NAACP Chapter to attend this rally.
“We are going to talk Saturday about criminal justice and education. Other days they will be dealing with health care, economic issues and voting rights,” Woods said.
“A whole number of issues will be dealt with in the seven-day period.”
“These issues are relevant. Everyday we face problems in lack of diversity in places of employment, where services are delivered, in management and areas where people have a say in how things are done and what’s going on in delivering services and developing curriculum,” Woods said.
“This was planned long before this matter in (Ferguson) Missouri, but I think, certainly, that this going on in Missouri for the last week highlights what can happen when a community, too long, feels and holds in its frustration,” Woods said.
“In criminal justice, one of the concerns that I have is that in a time where there is less violent crime being committed we are wanting to build another prison and we are imposing fines in an increasing manner. Even locally here we are charging people to put them in jail and pay for their time in jail, and the reason they are in jail in the first place, nine times out of ten, is because they couldn’t pay a fine, couldn’t negotiate or couldn’t afford an attorney,” Woods said.
“We then get people involved in this downward spiral in the criminal justice system where they are always looking over their shoulder, always being hounded and are subjected to being picked up anytime because of fines, court costs and that type of thing. So you effectively get them out of the system and prevent them from living gainful lives.”
“We have too few African-Americans in the system as far as judges, prosecuting attorneys, probation officers, you name it, and that is around the country,” Woods said.
“We are doing better right now in Columbia County with the police force, with a black police chief and recently having some African-American officers hired. For a long time, we were like most people in the country, with a lack of African-American officers and that leads to a whole multitude of things.” Woods said.
“One of the main reasons that we have so many people in jail and in prison, African Americans in particular, is what occurs on the front end. People being noticed, who gets stopped, who gets pulled over depends on who is out there. Racial profiling is still an issue.”
“Education is a continuing issue. The lack of African American teachers, the lack in the process of developing curriculum, the lack in administration and the lack on school boards who have a role in policy making for districts,” Woods said.
“This isn’t the first time that these concerns have been addressed,” Woods said.
“We need to let policy makers know that we aren’t pleased with the direction in which a number of different policies are heading.”