Washington, D.C., (February 7, 2023) – Melanie L. Campbell, President & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR), issued the following statement ahead of today’s State of The Union Speech to be delivered by President Joe Biden.

“As we approach President Biden’s State of The Union Address, it is critical that we take a close look at the state of Black America. Despite being an integral part of the fabric of this country, Black Americans continue to face systemic barriers to equality and justice, including in the critical areas of policing, housing, reproductive justice, voting rights, economic opportunities, wealth creation, educational and health disparities.

“The recent murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police is a stark reminder of the urgency around racial justice and the need to use all the tools of the Federal government to curb police violence and pass The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The loss of Black lives to police brutality and the ongoing attacks on Black and other communities is unacceptable. We must demand that our elected leaders take immediate action to address these issues and ensure that all communities have equal protection under the law.

“We are calling on President Biden to prioritize police accountability and racial justice in his State of The Union Address. This includes a commitment to addressing the systemic failures within law enforcement and the criminal justice system that have allowed for the ongoing killing of Black people with impunity.

“In addition to police accountability, it is equally important that we address the ongoing attacks on reproductive justice and rights, which disproportionately affect Black women. We must ensure that all individuals have access to comprehensive reproductive health care, free from political interference and discrimination.

“We also call on President Biden to continue to take action to protect our democracy, including expanding voting rights and protecting against voter suppression efforts. These rights are the foundation of a free and just society, and we must do all that we can to ensure that they are protected and expanded.

“Finally, we must address the persistent economic, educational, and health disparities faced by Black Americans. This includes the creation of policies that address income inequality, the expansion of access to quality education, workers’ rights, paid family & medical leave and the development of programs to address the ongoing health crisis in Black communities, including maternal health disparities.

“While we are pleased that the administration has made progress in some of these areas, it is clear that more must be done. We must use this moment to recommit ourselves to the pursuit of equality and justice for Black Americans and all people. The state of Black America requires our collective attention, action and investment, and we must act with urgency to address these pressing issues.”

Washington, D.C., (January 27, 2023) Melanie L. Campbell, President & CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) issued the following statement with regard to today’s release of Memphis Police video footage.

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) is one of the most active civil rights and social justice organizations in the nation “dedicated to increasing civic engagement, economic and voter empowerment in Black America.” The Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls empowerment arm of the NCBCP. At the forefront of championing just and equitable public policy on behalf of Black women, BWR promotes their health and wellness, economic security & prosperity, education and global empowerment as key elements for success. Black Youth Vote is the youth-led civic leadership, training and organizing arm of the NCBCP. For more information on the NCBCP’s Unity 2020 National Campaign go to unitycampaign.org.

Washington, DC (January 25, 2023) – – Earlier this month, Florida’s Department of Education blocked a proposed Advance Placement (AP) course, developed by The College Board, focused on African American studies. The course had been in development for more than 10 years and “aims to explore the experiences and contributions of African Americans through various lenses, from the African diaspora to the Civil Rights movement, and beyond.” The College Board is currently piloting the course at 60 schools across the U.S. and plans to make it available to all schools in the 2024-2025 school year.

The course is currently being offered at one school in Florida, but Florida officials, including Governor Ron DeSantis, have taken issue with the curriculum. On Monday, Gov. DeSantis stood by his Department of Education’s decision to reject students’ access to the AP course on African American studies, issuing a statement that, “As submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow.”

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), Florida Black Women’s Roundtable, Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Florida Black Youth Vote takes extreme issue with, and strongly challenges, Gov. DeSantis and his administration’s position regarding this important and highly educational AP course on African American studies.

As an organization, women & youth empowerment network, dedicated and committed to promoting and protecting the rights and civic engagement of Black communities, we understand the deep connections between the fight for voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights and the fight to educate ALL Americans, truthfully and accurately, as to our being the cornerstones in the development and growth of this nation.

States Melanie L. Campbell, NCBCP President & CEO and Convener of The Black Women’s Roundtable, “As a native-born Floridian and Black American, I find it most offensive, that Florida Governor DeSantis and his Administration would choose the month of January, when the nation celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his life fighting for civil rights, voting rights, economic and social justice for our people----to attempt to erase Black History from being taught to Florida’s high school students.

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) is one of the most active civil rights and social justice organizations in the nation “dedicated to increasing civic engagement, economic and voter empowerment in Black America.” The Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls empowerment arm of the NCBCP. At the forefront of championing just and equitable public policy on behalf of Black women, BWR promotes their health and wellness, economic security & prosperity, education and global empowerment as key elements for success. Black Youth Vote is the youth-led civic leadership, training and organizing arm of the NCBCP. For more information on the NCBCP’s Unity 2020 National Campaign go to unitycampaign.org.

By Peter Schurmann, Ethnic Media Services

I was working. I was in my apartment in Brooklyn and of course, like much of the nation I was watching things develop on the news. It was a surreal moment… we were in this pandemic, and we had a lot of concerns starting in the Spring of 2020 in terms of how our nation was going to handle a presidential election. We had done a lot of very intense work to make sure our democracy fared well. And then it did. The fact that we had the highest voter turnout in a century at a time when we were going through these unprecedented circumstances was an overwhelming success. And then we’re caught up in non-stop election disinformation and it all ends with this terrifying attack on our democracy.

Part of why we are seeing these attacks (on voting rights)… is a backlash to voters, and particularly voters of color participating at high rates. You see this in the way January 6 developed. The false narrative that Trump used to claim the election was rigged was that there was massive fraud happening. He made that claim specifically about minority-majority cities, places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and bizarrely Harris County, Texas where he won. It was always focused on racially diverse parts of the country where we saw extremely high turnout in 2020. And that was used to justify attempts to overturn the election. I do not for a second believe that was an accident. That was intentional.

And that lie lives on, manifesting itself in ongoing attempts to restrict access to voting for people of color. In 2021, and into 2022… we saw an unprecedented wave of voter restriction laws passed in states around the country. And what we found was that many of the lies told in frivolous litigation filed by the Trump campaign and its allies in 2020 to try to overturn the election found their way into legislative provisions introduced in state legislatures in 2022. These were pieces of legislation directed at fixing problems that were conspiracy theories.

Many of these laws would have been stopped by preclearance (a provision of the VRA requiring certain states to gain court approval for election laws deemed harmful to minority voters). In Texas, Georgia, Arizona… before 2013 (when the Supreme Court undid portions of the VRA under Shelby v. Holder) if these states tried to enact any of these bills, they would have been held up to determine if they would have a discriminatory effect. And we know that some of them did. In Texas, we showed that one piece of SB1, requiring voters to put ID numbers on their mail ballot applications and on their mail in ballots, ended up with tens of thousands of voters having their ballots rejected, and that those voters were disproportionately Asian, Latino and Black. And so, that is a policy that would not have survived preclearance.

The Supreme Court, through a series of shadow docket decisions, has inappropriately expanded what is called the Purcell principle, which states federal courts shouldn’t change state election law in the lead up to an election. Even if a court finds there is a reason to block a state law governing elections, they should be hesitant to do that right before an election because it may do more harm than good. That was the justification for SCOTUS blocking a lower court decision striking down Alabama’s redistricting map as discriminatory. This principle has now been expanded to the point where the message to lower courts is, you shouldn’t be ruling on any of these cases before elections. And the message to state legislatures is that the things they do in these odd years are unlikely to be blocked before the election year. So, if you are in the Texas legislature, the lesson is, if we do something in 2023, it will be in effect in 2024. I hope that’s not true, but I think they have reason to think they can play games in 2023.

The focal point of this fight unfortunately is not in Congress. We would like for it to be. We came very, very close early last year to getting Congress to act on these issues and to pass the John R Lewis Freedom to Vote Act, but despite majority support, that didn’t happen because of the filibuster. The fact that the House is at a complete standstill for the time being… means it is even less likely that anything is going to happen on these issues in Congress. Because we have local election administration in the U.S., most of these fights are playing out at the state level. It is happening in counties and states across the country. Reporters need to be following what is happening in state legislatures, in county election administrations. And that can be difficult because the rules differ, and it is a lot of territory.

We saw that our democracy is resilient in 2022. We saw that courts will stand up to election sabotage. And, thankfully, 2022 election deniers did not fare well. Voters showed how they feel about election denialism and efforts to undermine democracy. And on the other hand, I think Republicans that had been pushing this agenda… have been sent a loud message by voters that they don’t like it and that it is not a good political strategy. I am hoping we will make progress in the next couple of years building on that message from voters that they don’t want to play these games with democracy.

To register to vote in Louisiana you must:

Registering to vote or changing your registration is easy using the GeauxVote Online Registration System.

Voting is your right! Ensure you are #VoteReady at unitycampaign.org. #VoterRegistrationDay #FreedomtoVote

Louisiana Unity Coalition/Black Women's Roundtable encourage you to Register Today.

The Louisiana Unity Coalition is an affiliate of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), is a 501©3, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter participation in Black and underserved communities. The National Coalition has a national membership of organizations representing a diverse constituency base including civil rights, labor, and business organizations; fraternities and sororities; women, youth, educators, faith leaders, public policy makers, researchers, and others.

The National Coalition was founded on May 6, 1976. For nearly 40 years, The National Coalition has served as an effective convener and facilitator at the local, state, and national levels of efforts to address the disenfranchisement of underserved and other marginalized communities through civic engagement including: ​

As a State affiliate, we serve as the lead entity for NCBCP's local initiatives which engage state-based organizations to lead, organize and implement non-partisan efforts centered around Voter Engagement, Registration, Assistance & Voter Protection. Activities include Field & Online Outreach; Poll Monitor Recruitment Drive; Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Campaign; Debate Watch Parties, Spill the Tea & Field Outreach events among others.

The National Coalition strives to create an enlightened community by engaging people in all aspects of public life through service/volunteerism, advocacy, leadership development, and voting.

To learn more about the Louisiana Unity Coalition, contact Louisiana's Convener Vincent Sylvain at Vincent@SylvainSolutions.com.

The Black Women's Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls leadership development, mentoring, intergenerational empowerment & power building arm of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

The BWR promotes health and wellness, economic security & sustainability, education and global empowerment as key elements for success. BWR established its Intergenerational Policy Network in 2008, which is comprised of a diverse group of Black women civic leaders representing international, national, regional, and state-based organizations and institutions. Together, the BWR membership represents the issues and concerns of women and girls who live across the United States and around the world.

To learn more about the Louisiana Unity Coalition's Black Women's Roundtable, contact Louisiana's BWR Convener Gwendolyn Hughes at GwendolynBWR@gmail.com.

Black Youth Vote! (BYV) is the youth-led civic engagement arm of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Black Youth Vote’s mission is to train, invest and provide Black youth and young adults with civic engagement, organizing and civic leadership opportunities------focused on Millennials, Generation Z and Returning Citizens (18 – 35 yrs. old). Black Youth Vote! is focused on leveraging the power of the black youth electorate to make positive social change and win on the issues they care about in their communities, including: racial & economic justice, college affordability, criminal justice/policing reform, affordable health care, workers’ rights, voting rights, human rights and more! For more information visit:

www.unitycampaign.org.