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The branch is busy throughout the years with legislative issues, scholarships, veterans, discrimination, housing, employment, youth and college issues.
If your NAACP membership has expired, please renew online at www.naacp-saltlakebranch.org or mail to: NAACP SL Branch, P.O. Box 25414, Salt Lake City, UT 84125-0414.
Previous Branch Activities
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The NAACP Salt Lake Branch November 2019, held the following health discussions with: Amyloidosis Education with Jose Nitivi-Nicolau, MD
Director, Cardiac Amyloidosis Program, University of Utah Health
Discovering the Early Warning Signs and Symptoms of Amyloidosis.
Dr. Charles Rogers (University of Utah School of Medicine)
#CuttingCRC (Community Dialogue Session)
On Investigating The Complex, Understudied Factors Influencing African American Men's
Low Completion of Screening Colorectal Cancer (CRC).
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ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) Forum
The NAACP Salt Lake Branch Education Committie, on April 13, 2017, held the ESSA Forum at 6:00 pm at Bryant Middle school, 40 S. 800 E. Salt Lake City. The Principal was James Yapias. Victor Goode, NAACP Interim Director of Education from the NAACP Headquarters presented on ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). The NAACP works with the Utah State Board of Education, Lexi Cunningham, Ed.D, Superintendent, Salt Lake City School District, other school districts, and James Yapias in our outreach.
For questions, contact Jeanetta Williams, President at (801) 250-5088 or jdwnaacp@att.net.
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Special Announcement from
Excel Entertainment:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation and the Bonneville Charitable Foundation provided a combined grant to the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, up to $40,000, in support of their work with the groundbreaking film, Jane and Emma.
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Law Enforcement Forum
As a follow-up from our 2014 Law Enforcement forum, the NAACP Salt Lake Branch hosted another forum with a large number of local Police Chiefs, Officers and Utah Highway Patrol officials at the Utah State Bar Law and Justice Center, 645 South 200 East (Rosa Parks Blvd.). Carlton T. Mayers, II, Esq., former NAACP Criminal Justice Director from our Baltimore Headquarters was in attendance and assisted with the forum, announced Jeanetta Williams, President.
The second community Policing Forum was held the same evening at New Pilgrim Baptist Church, (The Point Church), 5133 South Heath Av., Kearns, Utah. Both forums addressed community policing, police shootings, officer shootings, wearing of body cameras, accountability and other subjects. Carlton T. Mayers, II, Esq., NAACP Criminal Justice Director talked about the “Ban the Box” and other NAACP initiatives.
The public was invited and encouraged to attend both forums.
The NAACP Financial Freedom Campaign
The NAACP Financial Freedom Campaign, is an initiative to influence change in the banking industry, prevent unfair mortgage lending practices, protect the community against predatory mortgage lending practices, improve fair credit access, and promote sustainable homeownership, financial education and wealth building strategies in historically disadvantaged communities. The agreement with Wells Fargo and NAACP was initiated through a partnership. Wells Fargo became the first bank to endorse the NAACP’s Responsible Mortgage Lending Principles.
Jeanetta Williams President, NAACP Salt Lake Branch & Tri-State Conference of Idaho, Nevada & Utah
jdwnaacp@att.net (801) 250-5088 www.naacp-saltlakebranch.org
Education
The Branch’s Education Chair, is James Yapias. This committee has worked on the NAACP’s School to Prison Pipeline program. At the 2014 Annual Dr. Martin L. King Jr., Luncheon, the speaker was Monique Lin-Luse, Special Counsel, Education Group, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational fund, Inc. She was selected to speak because of her background with School to Prison Pipeline.
North Davis Preparatory Academy
First graders at North Davis Preparatory Academy were asked to dress in black and paint their faces black for a holiday play observing a Spanish tradition. President Jeanetta Williams intervened. As a result, numerous discussions were held with the Principal and the State Office of Education with President, Jeanetta Williams. At the urging of President Williams, the school agreed that they would participate in a full 1-2 day training. This training will be done in conjunction with the Utah State Office of Education and a team with the Metropolitan State University of Denver including the Executive Director, Equal Opportunity and Assistant to the President, Office of the President/Equal Opportunity Office, Metropolitan State University of Denver, EEO/AA office for the university.
Tooele, Utah Stabbing Death
Upon receiving a telephone call from the parents of a 17 year old African American High School student, Jesse Horowitz that their son was killed, the NAACP Salt Lake Branch began its investigation. President, Jeanetta Williams called upon the U.S. Attorney’s office to fully investigate the incident to determine if race was a factor.
A local newspaper reported the following: The NAACP of Salt Lake City is investigating the stabbing death of a Tooele County teenager who was killed in a fight early Saturday, April 26 at a Stansbury Park elementary school area.
Jesse Horowitz, 17, had gone to Stansbury Elementary School to watch a fistfight between a friend and another boy who were competing for the affections of a girl, investigators have said. A group of teenagers and young men gathered as spectators, but as the crowd became volatile, one man began insulting and challenging Horowitz, who ultimately was stabbed several times in the chest.
Horowitz was Black; the rest of the group was mostly, if not entirely, white, said Jeanetta Williams, president of the local NAACP branch.
"Jesse was the only African American who was there, he was the only one who was hurt, and he was the only one who was killed," Williams said.
The NAACP wants to learn more about what occurred at the scene, what people said to each other during the fight — and, particularly, why a knife was brought to a simple fistfight and used against a teenager who was not a party to the dispute at hand, Williams said.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions," Williams said. "We want to make sure we’re investing to see if this had anything to do or did not have anything to do with race. It’s incumbent upon the NAACP as a civil rights organization to look into it. We would look into it if it was the other way around — a lot of black kids there, and the one white kid gets stabbed."
NAACP Salt Lake Branch Commemorated the Life & Legacy of Dr. Martin L. King Jr.
The film "Freedom Riders" was shown at the City Library Auditorium on Saturday, April 5, 2014 to the public to commemorate the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin L. King Jr. The National Endowment for the Humanities partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to develop programmatic and support materials for this site working with the NAACP Salt Lake Branch.
On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on a balcony outside his second floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers.
Brown v. Board of Education
The Salt Lake Branch commemorated the 60th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education on Saturday, May 17, 2014 with community awareness.
Health Care Forum
The NAACP held a Health Care Forum to better educate the public about the Affordable Care Act. In an effort to reach out to the communit, we wanted to give this opportunity to the public. This was a one on one discussion about Health Plans and the Affordable Health Care that was open to the community at no charge and without an appointment. The NAACP Salt Lake Branch Sponsored this Forum with Arches Health Plan on Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. at the Utah State Bar Law and Justice Center, 645 South 200 East (Rosa Parks Blvd.) in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Hurricane, Utah; Man facing criminal charges for hate crimes
A 70-year-old White Hurricane man faced criminal charges for hate crimes in state and federal court for allegedly writing threatening letters to neighbors in a housing complex after an African-American male who is 14 years old moved in with his sister and her husband, who are White.
Robert Keller was charged in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City with a misdemeanor violation of the Fair Housing Act. Keller also faces a state misdemeanor charge of harassment in state court in Washington County.
The investigating officer said video from a surveillance camera allowed the couple to identify Keller, who lived in the same complex. He was charged with a state crime on Dec. 31, 2013.
Newspapers reported that Jeanetta Williams, President of the Tri-State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she brought the case to the attention of federal authorities after receiving a complaint from the couple.
After an investigation by the FBI and Hurricane police, the federal charge also was filed against Keller.
Keller was arrested Tuesday May 20, 2014 on a federal warrant. U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said via email that Keller failed to arrive at the Salt Lake City federal courthouse where his case is being heard for an initial appearance on May 8. “We agreed to reach out to see if the summons had been served and to make sure he knew when the next court date was,” Rydalch stated. When Keller again failed to appear Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn Furse approved the prosecution’s request for the arrest warrant. He was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility shortly before 5 p.m.
Life Membership and Freedom Fund Committee/Membership Committee
January and October of each year, this committee organizes the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Luncheon and Freedom Fund Banquet. Memberships are solicited at each event. The speaker at the Life Membership and Freedom Fund Banquet in 2013 was Benjamin Todd Jealous, (now former) President & CEO of the NAACP. The Albert B. Fritz Civil Rights Worker of the Year Award was presented to attorney Alain Balmanno. This award was named after the former President of the NAACP. This award is presented as an effort to recognize dedicated service to the community and humanity.
Justice for Trayvon Martin Law Enforcement Forum’s
The NAACP Salt Lake Branch hosted an educational forum Monday, April 2, 2012 at the Law and Justice Center to support justice for Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by 28 year-old George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch person in Sanford, Florida. The fatal shooting of unarmed Trayvon Martin, a 17 year-old African American took place on February 26, 2012.
These law enforcement education forums were open to the community free of charge. Speakers at the 1st Session in March gave recognition to National Women’s History Month were Shauna Graves-Robertson, Utah Third District Justice Court Judge and Kathryn N. Nester, Federal Public Defender for the District of Utah. The 2nd Series Speakers were David B. Barlow and Chief Buzz Nielsen. David B. Barlow, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah (who since has resigned) discussed his responsibilities as the U.S. Attorney and their mission to protect and serve the citizens of the District of Utah through the ethical, vigorous and impartial enforcement of the laws of the United States. Thayle “Buzz” Nielsen, Chief of Police for West Valley City (who since has retired) discussed the understanding of police procedures during an arrest, police reports and the Citizens Professional Standards Review Board. The 3rd Series Speakers were Sim Gill, Salt Lake County District Attorney & Jim Winder, Salt Lake County Sheriff. On June 4th, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. the 4th Series of Speakers were Special Agent Cameron Saxey of the FBI and Major Mike Kuehn from the Utah Highway Patrol.
At these events, the Branch compiled information and distributed brochures on Interacting with Law Enforcement.
Legislation
NAACP Salt Lake Branch Addresses Legislation throughout the Year and mainly during the Legislative Session. Payday Lenders Bill has been one topic that the NAACP has been supportive. The branch was successful with the passing of the 2019 Hate Crimes Bill that was signed into law by Governer Herbert.
Previously, there was HB363 Education Sex Bill; the NAACP Salt Lake Branch was instrumental in signing petitions and making telephone calls to Governor Gary Herbert asking him to veto the controversial Education Sex Bill after it passed during the 2012 legislative session. This was a bill that would change Utah’s public schools’ abstinence-based sex-ed curriculum to abstinence only. The NAACP along with others was successful in these efforts when Governor Herbert vetoed this Bill in March 2012.
Police Shooting in Saratoga Springs, UT
The NAACP Salt Lake Branch President, Jeanetta Wiliams called upon the US Dept of Justice to investigate the shooting death of Darrin Hunt's shooting by police. He was 22 years old and shot in the back. A press conference held by the NAACP was attended by the family of Darrien Hunt, the family attorney, Bob Sykes and NAACP attorney Alain Balmanno.
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