NAACP MOURNS FOR ORLANDO VICTIMS

June 13, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAACP Mourns for Orlando Victims

WASHINGTON, DC - In a gathering with leadership of the Human Rights Campaign and civil rights allies Sunday in Washington, DC, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks issued the following statement in response to the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando by a heavily-armed man overnight:

“On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the NAACP I want to assert clearly that we stand shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart and hand in hand with our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

“When you violate, when you desecrate, when you assassinate the humanity of any of us, it is a civil rights issue at the top of the NAACP’s agenda. This moment that we find ourselves in is a trying hour in the midst of this imperfect union of American democracy.

“We should remember that this is the holy month of Ramadan, as well as Pride month. It is nearly a year to the day when nine students of scripture were assassinated in a church in Charleston, S.C. When people take the lives of God’s children on the Sabbath day, people of every faith, every ethnicity and every hue have to stand up, take notice and speak out. It is just that clear.

“Our hearts are extended to every man and woman who lost their relative, a child, a loved one or a friend. As we continue to see the devastation and horror this latest act of hate has caused, we must create empathy and compassion to stand against it. This is a trying hour, a difficult hour, but we are in the midst of a season of love, where we will all stand up for the rights of one another. We continue to call for sensible gun control, and for a society that allows every person to live without persecution for being who they are.

“This day was a violation against our values as Americans. As such, we have to be clear, we have to be strong and we have to demonstrate our resolve. We will not allow the forces of hate to take down our citizens or turn us away from our devotion to a better world. We will not allow our values to be violated.”

President Obama Speaks on Tragic Shooting in Orlando

President Obama delivered a statement on the tragic shooting that took place overnight in Orlando, Florida. Watch his statement below:

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"In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give into fear." —@POTUS https://t.co/i7fOS38GzH

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 12, 2016

Statement by White House Press Secretary on Orlando Shootings

The White House Office of the Press Secretary has released the following statement on the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida night club.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

The President was briefed this morning by Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, on the tragic shooting in Orlando, Florida. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims. The President asked to receive regular updates as the FBI, and other federal officials, work with the Orlando Police to gather more information, and directed that the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community.

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Black Women in Medicine Documentary Coming Soon!

Black Women in Medicine honors Black women doctors around the country who work diligently in all facets of medicine. In telling the stories of women who have persevered in medical fields in part by overcoming barriers linked to race and gender, the film provides audiences with under-represented visions of success and fuel for self-actualization. 

Why Now?

Approximately one in four persons currently living in the U.S. is Black, and the number is steadily increasing. By contrast, Blacks represent only 4% of the physician workforce under 40. The percentage of female minority doctors is even smaller. As minority doctors are more likely to provide care to minority, underserved, and disadvantaged communities, their under-representation is a problem with potentially fatal consequences. Barriers separating youth of color from careers in medicine must be addressed if we are to foster a medical workforce that better reflects the diversity of the society it serves.

Black Women in Medicine amplifies the stories of trailblazing women and brings them within reach of those who most need to hear them. As we follow these stories, we journey through America’s sociopolitical evolutions concerning gender equality and cultural diversification of professions. These narratives tell stories of excellence and perseverance that engage, inspire and motivate, planting seeds of aspiration in the minds of future doctors.  Black Women in Medicine Airs on American Public Television Fall 2016!

Wichita sit-in site will get memorial

The site of an important civil rights sit-in in 1958 in Wichita will be getting a memorial for the first time.

Young black protesters sat at the lunch counter in the Dockum Drug Store in July 1958. After three weeks of sit-ins, the drug store agreed to serve the black students at the counter, the Wichita Eagle reports. It is considered one of the first successful lunch counter sit-ins in the nation that eventually helped lead to desegregation.

On Thursday, two participants in the sit-ins, Joan Williams and Galyn Vesey, attended a ceremony where the Kansas Health Foundation presented a $50,000 grant to the Kansas African American Museum and Ambassador Hotel for the memorial project. The Dockum Drug Store lunch counter stood in what is now Siena Steakhouse in the hotel.

“In the face of threats, in the face of name-calling and hate, they stayed strong,” said Steve Coen, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation. Coen said that the foundation began discussing funding a memorial last fall.

Organizers have not determined what form the memorial will take, or what it will include. The memorial may include an indoor public exhibit on the second floor of the Ambassador Hotel and an outdoor recognition of the sit-in site with a plaque or statue. Tad Stricker, general manager for Ambassador Hotel Collection, says the hotel no longer has the original lunch counter and believes that it was removed during a remodel of the building in the 1970s.

According to Stricker, the hotel, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in May, has wanted to honor the sit-in since the hotel opened in January 2013. Mark McCormick, executive director of the Kansas African American Museum, said that he wants the public to help provide ideas for the memorial project and offer input about how the historical moment should be represented.

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