NEW JIM CROW AUTHOR: "Everything has changed and nothing has changed"

INJUSTICE ON REPEAT: From mass incarceration to mass deportation, our nation remains in denial
By Michelle Alexander / The New York Times / Jan. 17 & 19, 2020
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Ms. Alexander has just released the 10th anniversary edition of her seminal bestseller, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness," from which the above is adapted.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Lonnie L. Feemster, President, Reno-Sparks NAACP
(775) 722-0042
Andrew Barbano, First Vice-President
(775) 747-0544

NAACP urges UNR president to use Wyoming football game as rare human rights teaching opportunity

RENO, NV (25 Oct. 2019) — The University of Nevada became a surprising trailblazer for human rights in 1946 and UNR President Marc Johnson can assume that mantle again this Saturday, according to Reno-Sparks NAACP President Lonnie Feemster.

The University of Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack plays a Mountain West Conference game vs. the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie on Oct. 26.

"President Johnson addressed the current unrest on the UNR campus in a recent 2,000-word guest editorial in the Reno Gazette-Journal," Feemster said.

"No one can disagree that the essence of a university lies in allowing a broad range of points of view," Feemster added.

"However even-handedly administered, promotion of the lower instincts of some cannot be excused or condoned via use of politically correct clichés. To allow individuals who advocate for white supremacy hate organizations which practice stochastic terrorism, is to invite them into the interstices of the concept of freedom of speech — with deadly consequences. I am gravely concerned," Feemster asserted.

"To grant a passive, backhand blanket pardon for any individual or organization even if (according to Johnson) 'their values' do not 'align' with the university's, may be fine in the abstract but a minefield in the concrete," Feemster said.

"This is passive-aggressive bureaucratese at its most well-refined," he added.

"Wrongly applied, to disagree with what you say but defend to the deposition your right to say it, is how bodies pile up," Feemster said.

"We need a substantive call to action.

"The proper perspective lies with active leadership, not reactive post-mortems," Feemster said, "so let's start with useful football."

"This is a truly teachable moment and let the education begin with something broadly-based and easy: Football in Wyoming on Nevada's Admission Day weekend. The Civil War led to the Silver State's entry to the union in 1864. We became known as 'Mississippi West,' but Nevada later showed some surprising leadership, sending a signal to the rest of the country that the past was not prologue," the longtime civil rights leader noted.

"In 1946, Nevada chose not to play at Mississippi State which told the Wolf Pack to leave its black players home. Our players, coaches and administrators should tout that story this Saturday — how the team from Mississippi West stood fast against Mississippi South.

"It will help both Nevada and Wyoming heal. This month brought the 50th anniversary of the Black 14, African-American football players who were kicked off the Wyoming Cowboys football team and expelled from school by a racist head coach on Oct. 17, 1969," Feemster said. The full story appears in the current edition of The Crisis, the official NAACP magazine.

"A commemoration was finally held earlier this year so the issue is fresh in the minds of Wyoming fans and students. President Johnson should recommend that Coach Jay Norvell and his Nevada players talk to people in Laramie this weekend about both schools' histories and future attempts to build trust and reconciliation. If Mr. Johnson attends, he should lead the effort.

"I agree with President Johnson that we have a lot of work to do. The NAACP stands ready to provide an experienced, outside perspective to an inclusive university environment," Feemster concluded.

The Reno-Sparks NAACP was founded in 1944 and is part of the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

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