{"id":7311,"date":"2025-07-07T20:11:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T20:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7311"},"modified":"2025-09-07T20:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T20:13:05","slug":"naacp-shuts-out-trump-first-time-in-116-years-civil-rights-group-refuses-to-invite-sitting-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7311","title":{"rendered":"NAACP Shuts Out Trump: First Time in 116 Years, Civil Rights Group Refuses to Invite Sitting President"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Weary of President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on civil rights, immigrants and diversity and still reeling from the disaster that unfolded when the National Association of Black Journalists allowed him to speak at their 2024 convention, the NAACP has drawn a line. For the first time in its 116-year history, the civil rights organization will not invite a sitting president to its national convention July 9-13.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has nothing to do with political party,\u201d NAACP President Derrick Johnson announced during a Monday press conference. \u201cOur mission is to advance civil rights, and the current president has made clear that his mission is to eliminate civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NAACP\u2019s decision comes as Trump continues to push policies that have harmed Black Americans and marginalized communities. In April, the organization sued the Department of Education after it began withholding federal funds from schools that refused to dismantle their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.<\/p>\n

The NAACP argued the department was blocking lawful efforts to ensure equal educational opportunity for Black students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a rich history of both Republicans and Democrats attending our convention,\u201d according to a statement from the organization.<\/p>\n

That history includes Democrat Harry Truman, who in 1947 became the first sitting president to attend the NAACP\u2019s national gathering. Despite fierce disagreements over civil rights policies, the organization also extended invitations to Republican presidents.<\/p>\n

President Ronald Reagan, criticized for using racially charged language such as \u201cwelfare queen,\u201d accepted the group\u2019s invitation in 1981 and condemned white supremacist groups in his speech. President George W. Bush spoke in 2006 after facing outrage over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Black communities in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n

But NAACP officials said Trump\u2019s conduct and rhetoric go far beyond past disagreements. His appearance at the NABJ convention last year only confirmed what many feared. On stage, Trump revived false birther-style attacks by questioning Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019s racial identity: \u201cIs she Indian or is she Black?\u201d<\/p>\n

He made sweeping, unsubstantiated claims that undocumented immigrants are being allowed to vote and are taking \u201cBlack jobs,\u201d calling them criminals from \u201cmental institutions\u201d and \u201cprisons.\u201d When asked about the police killing of Sonya Massey in Illinois, Trump stumbled through a vague response before promoting blanket immunity for law enforcement and ignoring the demand for police accountability.<\/p>\n

Throughout the NABJ appearance, Trump bulldozed over any pushback. Attempts by moderators to correct falsehoods were steamrolled. The appearance confirmed the concerns of journalists who protested his invitation \u2014 that Trump would exploit the platform to spread racist vitriol and lies.<\/p>\n

Still, Trump and his backers did not take the NAACP\u2019s decision quietly. In a statement packed with false claims, White House spokesman Harrison Fields lashed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NAACP isn\u2019t advancing anything but hate and division, while the president is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe,\u201d Fields said. \u201cThis is the same vision for America that a record number of Black Americans supported in the resounding reelection of President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics immediately pointed out Trump\u2019s long history of attacking Black Americans \u2014 from housing discrimination lawsuits to targeting Black political opponents \u2014 and noted that Trump remains one of the most openly divisive presidents in American history.<\/p>\n

“The NAACP has always stood for justice,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd when that mission is threatened, we will not hand over our platform to the person trying to destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown Weary of President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on civil rights, immigrants and diversity and still<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america-fights-back","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7312,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7311\/revisions\/7312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}