July 22, 2019; Detroit Free Press
Readers may recall that last year, the NAACP shifted its organizational status from a 501c3 to a 501c4 to reflect its intent to become more politically active. That act started them on a path that led to Monday, July 22, 2019, when a unanimous vote among the delegates at its 110th annual convention in Detroit passed a resolution calling for the House to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. In so doing, it lends its heft to an impeachment effort led by Rep. Al Green (D-TX-09) that stalled in the House last week.
The statement read as follows:
“The pattern of Trump’s misconduct is unmistakable and has proven time and time again, that he is unfit to serve as the president of this country,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of NAACP.
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“From his attempts to curtail the scope of Robert Mueller’s investigation to calling out minority congresswomen and telling them to go back to their countries, to caging immigrant children without food or water to his numerous attempts to avert the Supreme Court’s decision to not add in the citizenship question to the 2020 Census—this president has led one of the most racist and xenophobic administrations since the Jim Crow era. Trump needs to know that he is not above the law and the crimes that he has committed and he must be prosecuted. We will make sure that the NAACP is at the forefront of pushing Congress to proceed with the impeachment process.”
Both Green and Michigan’s Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) spoke at the convention. Tlaib, who is one of the four congresswomen Trump told to go back where they came from, declared at the start of her speech that she wasn’t going anywhere—not until she made sure Trump was impeached. She also said “the squad” is more than herself, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
“It’s beyond just the four of us. You are all the squad, trust me,” she said.
The NAACP took this action two days before former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony to the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. Democrats hope his testimony may spark an impeachment inquiry.—Ruth McCambridge
