NAACP Response to NCAA Canceling Championship Games in North Carolina
BALTIMORE – NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks issued the following statement about the decision by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to cancel championship games in North Carolina due to discriminatory laws passed by the state legislature this year:
“The NAACP applauds the NCAA, its President, Dr. Mark Emmert, its Board of Directors and all of its member institutions, for taking this courageous step in support of the rights of transgender people all over this great nation. Only through such bold action can we change the attitudes and actions of those who continue to be guided by fear and even hatred of those who seem to be different. North Carolina’s enactment of House Bill 2 (“HB2”), and its unabashed protection of those who discriminate against the LGBTQ community takes us back to a very dark time in our nation’s history, when de jure segregation and discrimination were the norm. The NCAA’s laudable decision to put its considerable economic weight on the side of justice, humanity, inclusion and equality shows that measures such as HB2 ultimately cannot stand. The North Carolina legislature could have chosen to allow municipalities to lead the way in improving civil rights and labor protections within the state, it instead chose to handcuff all of its municipalities and to ensure that the least progressive thinking on these issues determines the rights of all North Carolinians and all persons visiting the state.
North Carolina’s HB2 is an affront to everything the NAACP stands for. It overturned more than a dozen local ordinances and preempts cities in North Carolina from:
- Creating a higher minimum wage and improved working conditions,
- Enacting stronger workplace anti-discrimination laws, and
- Ensuring fair and equal access to public accommodations.
Just as with the NCAA’s decision in 2001 not to hold championships in states that fly the Confederate flag over their capitols, this week’s decision by the NCAA again shows its moral courage and leadership. We join the NCAA and those states that have banned official travel to North Carolina and call for the repeal of North Carolina’s retrogressive and reprehensible HB2.”
Photo: NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks
