We look forward to seeing you in Killeen on October 7th,   for our opening reception and film festival that will preview “For the Love of Liberty.”  This film chronicle the brave enlisted men of color who were instrumental in preserving liberty for others while fighting for their freedom within the US military and  America. We are inviting the communities of Killeen and Ft. Hood to be a part of this memorable red carpeted event.

Again this year we are inviting minority businesses who could benefit  from exposure to our convention attendees by vending their products and services.  Please click on the link below to access our vending information.

Minority Vendor Form

Texas State Agencies have also found our convention to be an excellent opportunity to do statewide networking and the information on reserving space is below.

State Agency Form

Make your hotel reservations at the Shilo Inn & Suites before September 20th, to Secure the conference rates of $109.00 for singles, doubles, triples or quads.  If you have questions feel free to contact me at 512-322-9547 or our Convention Coordinator/State Conference secretary Linda Lydia at 214-674-5887 or via email at llydia@sbcglobal.net

Hotel Reservation Letter

1st Vice President: Bob Lydia – blydia@sbcglobal.net

2nd Vice President: Aubrey Hooper – hoopac@yahoo.com

Secretary: Linda Lydia – llydia50@gmail.com

Assistant Secretary: Lawrence Myers – lawrencemyers@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Terry Mills – tbutlermills@aol.com

Assistant Treasurer: Brian Rowland – rowlandgroup@gmail.com

PUTTING AMERICAN BACK TO WORK, PULLING AMERICA BACK TOGETHER

We believe everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve the American Dream — a secure job, a safe home, and a quality education — but banksters and corporate lobbyists have made off with trillions of public dollars while small businesses can’t get loans and cities are laying off teachers, police, and firefighters.

In this time of economic crisis, it is easy for fear-mongerers to pit groups against each other and to find convenient scapegoats for the problems that plague us.

ONE NATION seeks to transcend our superficial differences and bring us together in a common quest for equal opportunity and justice for all.

For more information go to http://www.onenationworkingtogether.org/main.aspx

• Paint the confederacy in a positive way, disavowing the Texas Declaration of Causes which was passed by the people of Texas in order to secede from the Union and fight for the Confederacy, a document which made it clear that Texas was fighting for the Confederacy because it believed in white supremacy
• Attempts to rewrite the civil rights era
• Refusal to recognize terroristic acts not related to Islam including the U.S. Calvary against American Indians, the Texas Rangers against Mexican Americans & for decades by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups right here in our own country
• No longer calling American a democracy.  It will now be referred to as a Constitutional Republic
• Refusal to identify Tejano leaders who died at the Alamo, but students will learn about Confederate leaders or Black Texans who were of vital importance in Texas’ fight for independence from Mexico.  The first person who dies for the Texans was Samuel McCullough who was of African-descent, and one of the most legendary leaders of the Texas troops was Hendrick Arnold who is even honored at the Alamo.  Arnold was also of African-descent.
• While wanting to increase pride of our country they want to ignore or rename anything negative to paint a false picture of our past.  Like no longer calling it American Imperialism, instead it will be referred to as Expansionism.  Capitalism will no longer will be used in the books they think it has a negative connotation.  The words Free Enterprise will now be used

• Many suggestions made do not have anything to do with history, but political beliefs & ideologies.
• Refusal to teach that the Texas revolution was started primarily because of the desire to own slaves and the desire not to become Catholic as provided for in the independence document itself.

They voted down an amendment to have students understand why the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.

Click on the link below and add your voice of protest. Let the Texas State Board of Education know that you stand against rewriting history.  If you can not make it to the SBOE hearing on May 19th, 2010 at 9:00 am just click on the “What will you say”  Also below you will find the color coordinated proposed changes and testimony given by State President Gary Bledsoe, San Antonio President Marvinette Smith and Legislative Liaison Yannis Banks

• Petition
• What will you say
• Elementary Proposals
• Middle Proposal
• High School Proposals
• President Bledose Testimony
• President Smith Testimony
• Yannis Banks Testimony

100 year page

Bob Lydia – Texas NAACP 1st Vice President email: blydia@texasnaacp.org

Aubrey Hooper – Texas NAACP 2nd Vice President email: ahooper@texasnaacp.org

Linda Lydia – Secretary email: llydia@texasnaacp.org

Lawrence Myers – Assistant Secretary email: lmyers@texasnaacp.org

Terry Mills – Treasurer email: tmills@texasnaacp.org

Brian Rowland – Assistant Treasurer email: browland@texasnaacp.org

Arleya Horne – 1st Vice President email: Alenahorne@aol.com

Mark Crump – 2nd Vice President email: macrump@hotmail.com

Arielle Phillips – Secretary email: ariellephillips@ymail.com

Shalnora Worlds – Treasurer email: shalnoraw@yahoo.com

The Texas NAACP Jury Project

Starting this month the Texas State Conference of the NAACP, with a grant from the Open Society Institute, has embarked on an extensive year-long study of the experience of minorities on juries in Texas. Spurred by troubling evidence that rates of minority participation on juries are considerably lower than they should be, the study seeks to isolate and analyze the different variables that impact rates of minority participation on juries. We are particularly interested in the use of peremptory strikes by prosecutors as a tactical tool to influence the make-up of juries (in light of evidence obtained in other studies suggesting that blacks are especially likely to be “struck” from juries in this manner). The NAACP’s work on this issue is motivated by the spirit of the Supreme Court’s Batson decision, which makes it unconstitutional to strike citizens from juries purely on the basis of race.

As with all things, the State Conference is depending heavily on its local branches to bring this project to fruition, as much of the study consists of gathering anecdotal input from community residents in hopes of capturing evidence of larger trends. Also, local courts are being asked to provide documents, such as jury cards, that will allow for the generation of hard statistics on minority participation.

We also ask for your help. Please fill out the accompanying survey and return it to your local branch. Or, if you prefer, mail it to our state office at 1107 E. 11th St, Ste. A Austin, TX 78702.

The end goal is to propose a legislative remedy for what we see as a real, systemic problem. With this study providing a comprehensive account of the experience of the minority juror in Texas, the Texas NAACP hopes to ensure that African-American and other racial and ethnic minorities are able to serve on juries to the fullest extent possible.