Reignite and Reaffirm: NAACP One Year Anniversary

Last year, our Branch was forged from the collective trauma felt through the nation that caused so many to stand for this important cause - many segregated people were able to truly see for the first time the truth of the existence of oppression in our country. Today, as we look into the future and acknowledge our beginnings, we know that we are just only getting started and that there is so much work to be done. We recognize that in order to be effective, we need all hands on deck working together to move the dial; this is a marathon not a sprint.

Although there has been relatively little justice for those who lost their lives last year and for the last 400 years, some momentum was had in 2020/21. Here in Massachusetts, the Police Reform Bill was adopted and implemented by many police departments; the MA Association of School Districts adopted and encouraged adoption of the Anti-racist resolution; the NAACP grew with a swell of Members and our Branch is now the second largest in the entire New England region including Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. We must protect this work and move it farther.

This Anniversary Ceremony is an opportunity for us, the Community at Large, to come together to celebrate our collective commitment to this cause, and to recognize the great efforts that we’ve made in the wake of George Floyd’s murder to acknowledge that there is so much more work that needs to be done both locally and across the country, and to tangibly commit to this work.