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One High Point, One Community: Transforming Youth Unity Rally

The High Point NAACP Youth Council (HPYC Unit 59i1) and the High Point NAACP Religious Affairs Committee are excited to announce the upcoming Transforming Youth Unity Rally. This special event is scheduled for Saturday, June 22nd, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the...

CELEBRATING: EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN WHO MAKE ADIFFERENCE “WOMAN OF THE YEAR” CORONATION ~~ MOTHER’S DAY TEA

Join us as we celebrate elegance and inspiration at the “Exceptional Women Who Make A Difference” Mother’s Day Tea presented by the Women in NAACP (WIN) of the High Point Branch. This prestigious event will take place at the Golden Doors Event Center in High Point,...

Black Agenda Healthcare Forum

NAACP High Point Branch Presents: Black Agenda Healthcare Forum When: Thursday, April 04 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Where: Williams Memorial CME Church, 3400 Triangle Lake Rd, High Point, NC 27260 Format: Hybrid In-Person and Online Panel Discussion with Q&A Live Stream...

High Point NAACP Achieves 2023 Branch of the Year

The education, advocacy, and actions of the High Point Branch NAACP,  #5405B,  was recognized at the 80th Annual NAACP State Convention,  held September 28-30, 2023, in Wilmington NC. Our High Point University Collegiate Chapter was present to celebrate with us. The...

High Point City Council Pass Recommendations ~ One High Point Commission on Reparations

The High Point Branch of the NAACP announces, “High Point City Council passes recommendations by the One High Point Commission on Reparations.”  The recommendations are based on quantifiable data submitted by subject matter experts. To review the data presented by the...

NAACP Shirts for Sale

Print this order form You may submit your filled order form with your payment or email it back using the email address on the bottom of the form. Use the link below to pay and upload your order form....

SB 747 (Omnibus Elections Bill) Problematic, Discriminatory, and Suppresses the Vote

Our democracy is based on freedom, fairness, and choice. But here in North Carolina, a power grab is upon us. Extremists who want control over our elections are pushing for legislation that would limit our freedom to vote and diminish our voices. Our election process...

High Point Branch NAACP Advocates Medicaid Unwinding Problematic for the Most Vulnerable

With the national emergency declaration ending May 11, 2023, another national emergency evolves – more than half of those with Medicaid coverage will be terminated (3 million African Americans, 5 million Latinos, 1 million Asian and Pacific Islanders).  The first...

The High Point Branch of the NAACP advocates “Tell Your NC Representatives to Reject SB 747.”

This anti-voter bill would inject needless meddling by extremists who seek to limit access to the ballot box. The so-called N. C. Election Integrity Network is up to “no good.”    Senate Bill 747 Would: Allow anyone to violate privacy and challenge legitimate...

Celebration of Father’s Day

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us as we pay tribute to our community’s most courageousgentlemen. The men of honor in our lives who have made significant contributions to our families, our churches, and our community. During the Father’s Day...
(336) 887-2470 for Questions

NEW

One High Point, One Community: Transforming Youth Unity Rally

The High Point NAACP Youth Council (HPYC Unit 59i1) and the High Point NAACP Religious Affairs Committee are excited to announce the upcoming Transforming Youth Unity Rally. This special event is scheduled for Saturday, June 22nd, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at the...

CELEBRATING: EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN WHO MAKE ADIFFERENCE “WOMAN OF THE YEAR” CORONATION ~~ MOTHER’S DAY TEA

Join us as we celebrate elegance and inspiration at the “Exceptional Women Who Make A Difference” Mother’s Day Tea presented by the Women in NAACP (WIN) of the High Point Branch. This prestigious event will take place at the Golden Doors Event Center in High Point,...

Black Agenda Healthcare Forum

NAACP High Point Branch Presents: Black Agenda Healthcare Forum When: Thursday, April 04 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Where: Williams Memorial CME Church, 3400 Triangle Lake Rd, High Point, NC 27260 Format: Hybrid In-Person and Online Panel Discussion with Q&A Live Stream...

High Point NAACP Achieves 2023 Branch of the Year

The education, advocacy, and actions of the High Point Branch NAACP,  #5405B,  was recognized at the 80th Annual NAACP State Convention,  held September 28-30, 2023, in Wilmington NC. Our High Point University Collegiate Chapter was present to celebrate with us. The...

High Point City Council Pass Recommendations ~ One High Point Commission on Reparations

The High Point Branch of the NAACP announces, “High Point City Council passes recommendations by the One High Point Commission on Reparations.”  The recommendations are based on quantifiable data submitted by subject matter experts. To review the data presented by the...

NAACP Shirts for Sale

Print this order form You may submit your filled order form with your payment or email it back using the email address on the bottom of the form. Use the link below to pay and upload your order form....

SB 747 (Omnibus Elections Bill) Problematic, Discriminatory, and Suppresses the Vote

Our democracy is based on freedom, fairness, and choice. But here in North Carolina, a power grab is upon us. Extremists who want control over our elections are pushing for legislation that would limit our freedom to vote and diminish our voices. Our election process...

High Point Branch NAACP Advocates Medicaid Unwinding Problematic for the Most Vulnerable

With the national emergency declaration ending May 11, 2023, another national emergency evolves – more than half of those with Medicaid coverage will be terminated (3 million African Americans, 5 million Latinos, 1 million Asian and Pacific Islanders).  The first...

The High Point Branch of the NAACP advocates “Tell Your NC Representatives to Reject SB 747.”

This anti-voter bill would inject needless meddling by extremists who seek to limit access to the ballot box. The so-called N. C. Election Integrity Network is up to “no good.”    Senate Bill 747 Would: Allow anyone to violate privacy and challenge legitimate...

Celebration of Father’s Day

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us as we pay tribute to our community’s most courageousgentlemen. The men of honor in our lives who have made significant contributions to our families, our churches, and our community. During the Father’s Day...

Counting disenfranchised prisoners where they are confined instead of at their home address inflates the voices of rural, white residents and dilutes votes in Communities of Color

NEW HAVEN, CT (June 28, 2018)—The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), together with the NAACP Connecticut State Conference and individual NAACP members who live in five of the most overcrowded Connecticut state legislative districts, filed suit in federal court today to challenge the practice of counting prisoners as residents of the state legislative districts where they are incarcerated rather than in their home districts—a practice known as “prison gerrymandering.”

Connecticut, like many states, disenfranchises prisoners and has concentrated its prisons primarily in rural areas. The effect is that white, rural voters in the districts where prisons are located have their electoral power unconstitutionally inflated, at the expense of voters of color in other, over-crowded districts.

Press-call participants to include:

  • Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO
  • Brad Berry, NAACP General Counsel
  • Scot X. Esdaile, President of NAACP Connecticut State Conference
  • Connecticut State Senator Gary Winfield
  • Keturah James, Law Student Intern, Rule of Law Clinic, Yale Law School
  • Germano Kimbro, Plaintiff and formerly incarcerated individual

“Prison gerrymandering is an unconstitutional and intentional misrepresentation of voting power that we are committed to ending,” said NAACP President and CEO, Derrick Johnson. “This practice is one aspect of a war of voter suppression targeting communities of color and reducing the integrity of the vote.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, is the first statewide challenge to the practice of counting prisoners where they are incarcerated. The plaintiffs seek to compel the State of Connecticut to adopt a new redistricting map that counts incarcerated individuals in their home state legislative districts rather than in the districts where they are being incarcerated, thereby safeguarding the Fourteenth Amendment principle of “one person, one vote.”

“This process is a stain on our democracy and a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment,” explains Bradford Berry, General Counsel of the NAACP. “Like other forms of voter suppression it reduces the power of one community while inflating the power of another and it’s time to end it.”

Although a number of states continue to engage in this practice, Connecticut has some of the worst discrepancies in population numbers between its prison districts and most populated districts. According to the complaint, when prisoners are reallocated to their home districts, the population of District 59, where three state prisons are located, has an overall population that is more than 15% smaller than the most populated district in the state. The effect is that the vote of a person in that prison district counts for 15% more than each vote of a person in the largest district.

“Connecticut is a state of extreme inequality with wealth concentrated in the suburbs and poverty in our urban areas; prison gerrymandering represents another way in which resources disproportionately favor suburban communities,” said Scot X. Esdaile, President of the NAACP Connecticut State Conference. “Our members are directly impacted by this process which not only siphons off our families through mass incarceration but siphons off our political power as well.”

“This is about making sure everyone gets an equal voice,” said Germano Kimbro, a formerly incarcerated individual and plaintiff in the case. A resident of District 97, one of the most overcrowded state legislative districts in Connecticut, Kimbro argues “My vote shouldn’t count less than someone else’s just because they live near a state prison.”

“The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution requires Federal and State governments to follow the principle of “one person, one vote” when drawing legislative district lines. Each person’s vote is to be equal to that of their fellow citizens,” explains Alden Pinkham, a student in Yale Law School’s Rule of Law Clinic. “Using prisoners to inflate the population of the districts where prisons are located violates this principle.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are represented by the Rule of Law Clinic at Yale Law School and the NAACP.

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ABOUT THE NAACP:

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here on naacp.org. To become a member of the NAACP, visit naacp.org/membership.

Media Contacts:

Aba Blankson
Vice President, Communications and Digital Media
ablankson@naacpnet.org

Malik Russell
Director of Communications
mrussell@naacpnet.org