Voting, COVID and women’s rights take center stage at NAACP national convention in N.J.

There was no shortage of issues faced disproportionately by Black and brown communities throughout the country brought to the forefront by NAACP National President Derrick Johnson Saturday morning.

Ongoing voter suppression. The impact of COVID-19. The overturning of Roe V. Wade.

These were among the many Johnson and other Black leaders highlighted when describing the importance of this week.

“As we approach the midterm election, it is our opportunity — as an organization, as a community, as a collective whole across all communities — to question whether or not this would be the America we want to see. Or the America others are trying to drive us to,” said Johnson on the third day of the 113th NAACP National Convention in Atlantic City.

Johnson also referred to student loan debt and mass shootings in schools while discussing the critical need to bolster voter participation.

The national gathering is happening for the fourth time in New Jersey and for the first time in-person since 2019 amid the pandemic. Atlantic City also hosted the 1964 Democratic National Convention, alluded to several times throughout the opening press conference Saturday at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

The convention, expected to draw about 8,000 people this year, began Thursday and will run through July 20 at the convention center, throughout various Atlantic City hotels and a beach. According to the city’s destination management organization, Meet AC, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. said the convention is expected to generate about $10 million. Small and other local leaders said delegates and other NAACP convention attendees would be encouraged to spend locally.

The week of events — including panels, author readings and workshops — began with ACT-SO, a multi-day competition involving hundreds of children and covering various subjects such as dance, music and engineering.

READ MORE: Atlantic City, hosting the NAACP convention, was transformed by its casinos. But many were left behind.

The NAACP noted that voting rights are “under attack” more than 150 years after the 15th Amendment gave Black men in the U.S. the right to vote in 1870. Organizers said the upcoming November election would provide “an incredible opportunity to build Black political power at every level of the ballot.”

According to U.S. Census numbers that the New York-based non-profit Brennan Center for Justice analyzed, during the 2020 presidential primary, which typically draws more voters, about 71% of white voters cast ballots compared to 58% of non-white voters.

Jessie Jarmon, a 67-year-old NAACP delegate from Kenansville, N.C., hopes the gathering will increase the number of people who show up at the polls.

”More people don’t vote than do vote,” he said. “We need to have more people vote regardless of the party.”

With thousands gathering in Atlantic City for the NAACP’s national convention, delegates and organizers said it would be important to register voters for November’s midterm elections to tackle issues in their communities.

Those issues include the additional burden Black communities have bared during the pandemic.

“The old African American aphorism: When white America catches a cold, Black America gets pneumonia. It has a new twist now: When white America catches the coronavirus, Black Americans die,” NAACP NJ State Conference President Richard Smith said Saturday.

During the first two days of the convention, advocates, attendees and NAACP members also spoke about problems that most hurt communities of color, including reproductive rights, police brutality, mass shootings and student loan debt.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion will likely have a greater impact on women of color, activists said. Black women in the U.S. were nearly four times more likely to have abortions than white women and Hispanic women were twice as likely, according to CDC data published in 2019.

Kaleem Shabazz, president of the Atlantic City Branch of the NAACP and an Atlantic City Councilman, pointed to the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, as examples of incidents wherein communities of color appeared to be targeted. He said hose and other shootings were part of the impetus to increase security at the national convention.

Student loan debt in the U.S. surpassed $1.7 trillion in the spring, with most of that financial hardship falling on communities of color, according to the Education Data Initiative. According to the research group, 30% of Black college graduates with student loans default in the first 12 years of repayment.

Canceling student debt is one of the action items the NAACP lists online. It joins other organizations advocating for borrowers of color, who say debt can stifle their efforts to obtain wealth, invest in their futures and pour into their communities.

“We have issues that seem to pop up on a daily basis,” said Leon Russell, chair of the NAACP’s National Board of Directors. “This has been a tumultuous period. The pandemic kept us at home, kept us eating and not exercising. But now, we have to use the energy that we have built up to make the change necessary for our people to move forward with our theme … ‘This Is Power.’”

What’s happening this week?

The 113th national convention will feature more than 90 events, including panels, competitions, celebrations, live music and press conferences.

Kamala Harris, the first Black and Asian American person and the first woman to serve as vice president, will speak at the convention on Monday. Then host a roundtable with New Jersey state lawmakers and others to discuss protecting abortion rights following the overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

President Joe Biden last week issued an executive order to protect abortion rights, including access to Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, emergency medical care and contraception.

Gov. Phil Murphy, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge also are expected to address attendees during the event.

On Wednesday, the NAACP will honor Majority Whip James E. Clyburn with the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor awarded once every year, during the convention, organizers announced.

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Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @stevenrodasnj.