On Friday, as movie-goers attended the chilling and poignant release of Ava Duevarnay’s critically acclaimed 1965-based Civil Rights drama Selma, the FBI released a composite sketch of a suspect responsible for the attempting bombing of an NAACP building in Colorado Springs. The attempted bombing occurred on Tuesday, after an explosion erupted outside of the exterior walls of the NAACP Colorado Springs office. Based on witness accounts, authorities concluded that the suspect is a white, balding male in his forties, driving an older white truck. The FBI has not speculated on a motive nor have they confirmed that the Civil Rights organization was the intended target. Instead, authorities describe the incident as a “domestic act of terrorism.”
Henry Allan Jr., who is the president of the Colorado Springs chapter told NBC that he definitely believes that his office was in fact the target. Aldophus Prewitt, who is the president of the NAACP St. Louis City chapter unquestionably agrees with Allan who he says has been instrumental in supporting his office in the fight for justice in the Michael Brown case. Allan attended the funeral of the slain teenager with Prewitt.
I don’t believe in these types of coincidences.
says Prewitt.
We have been getting an inflation of threats since the Michael Brown shooting and even more after the verdict. Every time the grand jury verdicts come out in these shootings the NAACP is targeted. Chapters across the country are threatened. There are people who feel that the NAACP is fueling the flames of the protests by supporting the victims of these multiple shootings of unarmed black men and teenagers.
The NAACP bombing occurred just one day after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in St. Louis requested a St. Louis County judge to convene a second grand jury in order to investigate the fatal shooting of Michal Brown by Officer Darren Wilson.
I’m not sure if we can just say these are coincidences. There are patterns in history that tend to repeat themselves. The NAACP has seen its share of violence over time. Sometimes it’s all very hard to decipher through everything. In the racial climate that we are in, there are extremists on both sides, black and white. Just like the young man who killed the police officers in New York. There are people who will resort to violence simply because they don’t agree with an opposing position. It’s a very distressful time in our country right now.
-Abesi Manyando(@abesipr)
