By People’s World
Photos: Peoples’ World\YouTube Screenshots
Every year of his first term in the White House, President Donald Trump declined the invitation to speak at the NAACP’s annual convention. He won’t have to bother this time around because he’s officially uninvited—the first president to receive that dishonor in the civil rights organization’s 116-year history.
The snub was announced by NAACP President Derrick Johnson at a press conference on Monday. “Our mission is to advance civil rights, and the current president has made clear that his mission is to eliminate civil rights,” Johnson said.
“It’s clear that Donald Trump is attacking our democracy and our civil rights,” declared the NAACP’s full statement on the matter. “He believes more in the fascist playbook than in the U.S. Constitution.”
The NAACP cited Trump executive orders suppressing voting rights and reversing federal civil rights protections as key factors in its decision, along with the president’s use of the military against civilians in U.S. cities and his efforts to undermine democracy to personally enrich himself and his political allies.
Unsurprisingly, the Trump White House has responded by accusing the NAACP of “promoting hate and division.”
The NAACP—whose full title is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples—is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the country. It has been at the forefront of some of the most consequential struggles for racial equality, voting rights, and anti-discrimination legislation in U.S. history and has led campaigns against lynchings, racist violence, and white supremacy.
Trump’s actions, combined with the NAACP’s commitments, meant that placing the president on the do-not-admit list was an easy call. The wide range of assaults his administration is currently waging against not only Black Americans but against democracy in general made the decision a no-brainer, according to the group’s statement.
Along with other voting rights and civil rights groups, the NAACP is fighting to…
