The NAACP recently held a meeting with Civil Rights leaders and policy experts. They worked to develop a strategy to challenge what they see as an emerging crisis in this country.

Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP, getting arrested while protesting the nomination of Jefferson Sessions to be Attorney General. (Courtesy photo)

“The Niagara Summit on the Potomac” was held at May 1-2 at Georgetown University in Northwest Washington D.C.

The summit was inspired by a historic meeting of African American leaders held in 1905, said Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP. “How do we inspire? How do we fire up?” Brooks told the AFRO on May 2. “We have message inclusively, we have to make sure that Motown generation connects with the millennial generation and both are at the table together.”

The groups also addressed current attacks on immigrant communities, unchecked voter suppression, and the disturbing increase in hate crimes towards both Muslims and Jewish communities. The Niagara Summit was held one day after a MayDay March in the District by CASA in Action, a nonprofit organization that engages in educational activities and legislative and political advocacy in support of Latinos and immigrants in Maryland and Virginia.

The early Niagara Movement was founded by W.E.B. DuBois to address the issues of racism and segregation at the turn of the 20th Century. It would be that movement that led to the NAACP adopting a “declaration of principles” that was designed to challenge Jim Crow laws during Reconstruction.

Reminiscent of the original Niagara Movement, the summit, according to a press release, will in the coming days announce a set of core principles and strategies designed to broaden and deepen coalitions and strengthen policy priorities among disparate organizations and communities.

“In 1880 5,000 Blacks were lynched and today, we have gone from being denied our basic humanity to a scheme to dominate the vote. The solution is we need the automatic right to vote as Americans,” Brooks said.

One the objectives of the Niagara Summit is to mobilize voters for the midterm elections to support candidates that support inclusive policies and diverse communities on the local, state, and federal levels.

“In the face of a looming civil rights crisis threatening to relegate all Americans to a second-tier democracy, the NAACP is completely aware of the need to build strategic alliances with our partners to lighten our collective struggle,” said Brooks in a statement.

According to Brooks, the Niagara Summit on the Potomac will bring together leadership from

various communities to build strategies that protect Americans against current attempts to rollback “progress toward true democracy.”

“This is just the beginning,” Regina Thomas, former New Jersey Secretary of State, said.