POLICY AREAS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The right to equal justice under the law should not be conditional or based upon a person’s color or economic status. Over the last two decades NAN has been in the vanguard of the movement to bring such equality to every community that has been unfairly treated. Using the principles of non-violent direct action and civil disobedience NAN has helped to level the field and ensure a measure of justice for those who would abuse their status or seek to dispense justice based upon race or other illegal factors. Racial profiling, stop and frisk policing and police brutality were standard practice in many communities just over 20 years ago. Many of the anti-racial profiling laws on the books today are a direct result of NAN’s commitment to the principles and practices of Dr. King and the tradition of non-violent engagement. Through its advocacy, NAN continues to impact public policy and ensure that government itself is held accountable to the law.
VOTING RIGHTS
NAN works to ensure that every vote in every community across the nation is counted. NAN is leading the fight against voter suppression and voter ID laws and in 2012, NAN led a voter engagement tour to register and educate voters. In 2014, only 36.4% of voters turned out to midterm elections, compared to 40.9% in 2010. Especially during this administration, the swell in political action and mobilization around congress and legislation is moving quickly. As we enter 2018, a midterm election year, we will fight to insure that every person's right to vote is protected and exercised. As Dr. King said in 1965 in Montgomery, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave Negroes some part of their rightful dignity, but without the vote it was dignity without strength.”
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
NAN has made corporate responsibility, inclusion, and diversity an important part of its platform and through its pension diversity campaign and NAN’s Madison Avenue Initiative. In 2017 NAN launched a campaign to increase diversity in the contracts for control of our pension funds. We have worked extensively in New York with both city and state comptrollers, and have targeted some of the largest investment firms in the nation. NAN has also made sure that Black media entities, television, radio and marketing firms get their fair share of advertising dollars, contracts and procurements. The largest ever deal NAN negotiated was with the NAACP and National Urban League resulting in an agreement with Comcast and NBC Universal to expand current diversity initiatives resulting in four Black and Latino television stations, the biggest civil rights agreement in our time with major broadcasters. The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) improved diversity in the areas of corporate governance, employment/workforce recruitment and retention, procurement, programming, and philanthropy and community investments.
YOUTH LEADERSHIP
NAN puts youth and young leaders at the forefront of the movement for Civil Rights. Initiatives including NAN Youth Huddle, NAN Youth Move and the NAN Campus Ambassador program seek to lift up the voices of our young people so that they may lead the fight for the next generations. With leaders ages 11 to 25 we never leave out the passionate and visionary voices of our youth.