Issues of felony disenfranchisement, stand your ground, racial profiling, and the school to prison pipeline addressed by Human Rights Committee’s Report

GENEVA – The NAACP applauds the UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations from the United States International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) treaty compliance review. The report identifies issues of felony disenfranchisement, stand your ground laws, the death penalty and more. The NAACP brought an 11-person delegation to the hearings in Geneva.
“This report reiterated what those in the civil rights community have known for too long – the United States has more work to do to meet its human rights obligations,” stated Lorraine C. Miller, NAACP Interim President and CEO. “From felony disenfranchisement and stand your ground laws to voter suppression and the school to prison pipeline, we are pleased the Human Rights Committee has elevated these issues on the international stage. This gives us leverage in the United States to more aggressively address these issues at home.”
Regarding felony disenfranchisement the report states, “The Committee reiterates its concern about the persistence of state-level felon disenfranchisement laws, its disproportionate impact on minorities, and the lengthy and cumbersome state voting restoration procedures.” It then recommends, “The State party should ensure that all states reinstate voting rights to felons who have fully served their sentences, provide inmates with information about their voting restoration options and remove or streamline lengthy and cumbersome state voting restoration procedures, as well as review automatic denial of the vote to any imprisoned felon, regardless of the nature of the offence.”
“The Committee’s report squarely identifies the continued practice of felony disenfranchisement as a human rights abuse in violation of the ICCPR,” stated Jotaka Eaddy, NAACP Senior Advisor to the President & CEO and Senior Director for Voting Rights. “The right to vote is fundamental to American citizenship and attempts to deny this vital right is inconsistent with human rights norms. The NAACP will work at the state and national level to implement policies that will bring the United States into compliance with the ICCPR on this important issue.”
The NAACP brought several citizens impacted by felony disenfranchisement to the ICCPR review as part of its delegation.
“I am pleased that the Human Rights Committee is pressing the United States to address felony disenfranchisement laws” stated Jessica Chiappone, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Vice President and member of the NAACP UN delegation. “Felony disenfranchisement has a domino effect, impacting not just the formerly incarcerated citizen, but also their family and community. I look forward to seeing the concrete steps the U.S. government will take address this human rights issue affecting millions of Americans.” Chiappone recently published a compelling editorial on her experience.
“I am encouraged by the Committee’s decision to address felony disenfranchisement in its concluding observations,” stated Desmond Meade, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition President and NAACP UN Delegate. “As one of the over 1.54 million Floridians disfranchised by this arcane practice, I know firsthand the impact felony disenfranchisement. The U.S. should embrace these recommendations and our nation forward toward justice and equality for all.”
“Felony disenfranchisement has the effect of creating a second-class citizenship in the United States, leaving formerly incarcerated citizens to feel as if they are less than human,” stated Kemba Smith-Pradia, author, public speaker & NAACP UN delegate. “I commend the Committee calling on the U.S. government to rectify this fundamental human rights issue.” Smith gave powerful testimony before the deputy high commissioner while in Geneva.
“Felony Disenfranchisement has never been about punishment. It has always been used to suppress the vote of  minorities and suppressing the vote through felony disenfranchisement is a violation of international human rights standards,” stated Dennis Gaddy, Criminal Justice Chair for the North Carolina NAACP, Executive Director at the Community Success Initiative and NAACP UN Delegate. I am honored to have shared my personal story of felony disenfranchisement with the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. I believe, and the Committee agrees, the United States can and must do better on this issue.”
The report also analyzed stand your ground laws, indicating that the Committee “is concerned about the proliferation of such laws that are used to circumvent the limits of legitimate self-defense in violation of the State party’s duty to protect life (arts. 2, 6, and 26).” It goes on to recommend a “review Stand Your Ground Laws to remove far-reaching immunity and ensure strict adherence to the principles of necessity and proportionality when using deadly force in self-defense.”
“The Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations make it crystal clear that the promulgation of “stand your ground laws” and the continued use of the death penalty are a stain on the United States human rights records,” stated Hilary O. Shelton, Sr. Vice President for Policy and Advocacy.  “The NAACP looks forward to working with the Department of Justice, the Department of State and all other government agencies to address these issues – specifically stand your ground, racial profiling and racial disparities in school discipline – so that our country remains a beacon for human rights protections across the world.”
“The observations within this report demonstrate that the Committee heard our concerns clearly,” stated Dr. David Emmanuel Goatley, NAACP National Board of Directors Member and Chairman of the International Affairs Committee. “This report gives the NAACP another tool to fight injustices at home. Strengthening our capacity in the U.S. enlarges our ability to work for justice around the world.”
“This report is an important, but not the final step toward addressing these clear and conspicuous violations of human rights in our country,” stated Clayola Brown, NAACP National Board of Directors member and NAACP UN delegate. “These issues cut across racial, gender and ethnic lines, therefore advocates and activists must continue to stand together and press our government to uphold the highest human rights standards for all people.”

From Staff Reports

Cardell Davis  has been newly appointed to the Housing Authority of Birmingham District Board of Commissioners.
Mr. Davis has been very active in community development for years. Currently, in additions to his duties at HABD, Mr. Davis serves as the Executive Director  of Newstart Neighborhood Revitalization, LLC (NSNR), whose main goal is to bring quality  affordable housing  to urban areas. Through  a partnership with the City of Birmingham, Newstart has been able to fulfill that goal. Previously Cardell served as the Director of the Birmingham office for Neighborhood Assistance  Corp. of America (NACA) which focuses on saving homes with financial and mortgage assistance programs.
His territory included the entire state of Alabama. Primary duties included assisting distressed homeowners with loss mitigation and foreclosure program services. In addition, Cardell facilitated monthly workshops to assist those homeowners who were going through this process.
Prior to Cardell working with  NACA, he served as branch manager and training director for Premier Mortgage Fundting. While at Premier, Cardell taught mortgage classes through Capstone Mortgage and held mortgage literacy seminars throughout the City of Birmingham.
Cardell Davis has been a guest on numerous local radio shows, as well as the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity speaking on mortgage and budgeting topics.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s (BCRI) free Saturday Milestones Walking Tours will be offered each Saturday in April, starting April 5, 2014 at 10 am.  The hour-long tour, which begins at the main entrance to BCRI, is led by Barry McNealy, former BCRI Education Consultant and “Master Tour Guide.” McNealy is a social studies teacher at A.H. Parker High School.

Birmingham is one of over 30 cities and towns involved in this April’s Saturday Walking Tours organized statewide by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel (ABTT).  This is the twelfth year the walking tours have taken place, and they keep increasing in popularity every year.

Written by Alvin Benn
Special to the Advertiser

Birmingham Mayor William Bell was unable to appear at a civil rights breakfast in Montgomery on Saturday because President Obama wanted to speak with him at the White House.
As a result, Bell stayed in Washington, where he had been attending a meeting of Black mayors, and Birmingham Councilman Marcus Lundy was called late Friday to fill in for him.
Bell was expected to discuss with Obama efforts to secure millions of dollars in federal funds to help Birmingham with major road projects, including an area of the interstate system known as “Malfunction Junction.” The two have met several times in the past on important municipal issues.
Members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity that sponsored the Ralph Abernathy Civil Rights Celebration Breakfast were understandably surprised by Bell’s absence, none more than Kevin “Sinclair” Nero.
After helping to put the event together, Nero kept looking for Bell to appear. A worried look could hardly describe his countenance at the RSA Activity Center, where a large crowd had gathered for breakfast and a speech from the leader of Alabama’s largest city.
He was told about Lundy 10 minutes before the program was to start and later informed the crowd that his concern could best be described as “way beyond that of a deer in the headlights.”
But everything worked out for the best, and it didn’t take long for Nero and Lundy to become friends while Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, who was to have introduced Bell at the program. Strange instead spent much of his time discussing civil rights after learning of the speaker switch.
Strange indicated his mayoral friend from Birmingham found himself facing one of the easiest decisions in his political career.
“William Bell would be here today except for one reason, and that is the President of the United States,” said Strange, adding that Bell had to decide whether to be “with the president this morning or be with us in Montgomery.”
With a series of major civil rights anniversaries at hand in Alabama, Strange said cities involved with them are taking advantage of the commemorations.
He said Montgomery has been busy preparing and observing several of the events and will conclude next year with the 60th anniversary of the bus boycott, which occurred in 1955 and 1956.
The boycott launched the modern civil rights movement — a decadelong drive for equal rights that included protests in Birmingham, Selma, Marion, Tuskegee and other Alabama cities.
The protests ended in March 1965 when the Selma-to-Montgomery march concluded at the state Capitol with 25,000 activists filling Dexter Avenue.
The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy was born on a family farm in Linden in 1926. A Baptist minister, he would become a leader in the civil rights movement, rising to second in command of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Following King’s assassination in 1968, Abernathy assumed leadership of the organization and guided the Poor People’s campaign.
Abernathy died in 1990 at the age of 64.