EUROPEAN RACISM: "We Will Not Be Moved" - NAACP Stands Firm Following Recent Bombing At Its Colorado Springs Office, As FBI Releases Sketch Of Alleged Bomber!

FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders holds up a sketch of a person of interest in the bombing of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP after a press
conference with local and national law enforcement agencies Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 at the Colorado Springs Police Operations Center. The FBI is offering a
$10,000 reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest. (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo) | Denver FBI

January 11, 2015 - COLORADO, UNITED STATES - In the timeless struggle for civil and human rights, there has never been an instance where justice-seekers were not met with opposition. Resistance is to be expected. The NAACP's 106-year history clearly demonstrates that when a determined coalition of people are pursuing a movement to achieve civil rights, especially for the most denigrated and marginalized among us, it makes some people uncomfortable. It compels them to commit violent acts, and the recent bombing at our Colorado Springs office is a distressing reminder.

The NAACP is an organization made up of thousands full-time staff and volunteers. They are in my thoughts and prayers every single day and their safety is my number one priority.

Still, we know that advocating for the improvement of communities, mobilizing voters, holding lawmakers and law enforcement officials accountable and addressing health, education and economic disparities is dangerous work. The NAACP has been the target of eight bombings in the years that followed 1965, three of which occurred in 1993. But, our work is also necessary work, and I am encouraged by the brave individuals across the country that joins our ranks everyday to advance the cause of justice.

Whenever threatened, the NAACP doubles down for justice. That's who we are. When lynchings ran rampant in the South, the NAACP only intensified our efforts to asphyxiate that style of vigilante justice.

When marchers in Selma were beaten on the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Montgomery, they pressed onward. And when violent agitations confronted and dozens of other brave men and women while walking through a hostile town in Missouri during the NAACP's Journey for Justice: Ferguson to Jefferson City March last month, we kept marching.
Dr. King once said,

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

One cannot truly impact the world from a safe distance, and we have never been afraid to take our position on the frontline. Our team will continue to work on the issues in the communities that need our help the most.

We will continue to fight for justice for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and the other countless men and women who lost their lives to police violence and we will continue demand federal, state and local legislators to pass stronger reform around racial profiling, police accountability and excessive force in Missouri and across the country.

Just like a tree planted firmly by the water, no matter which way or how strong the wind blows, we will not be moved.

FBI Releases Sketch Of Alleged Bomber Near NAACP Office

Authorities on Friday released a composite sketch of the man they believe detonated an explosive near the offices of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP.

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also offered a $10,000 reward for information on Tuesday's explosion, which caused only minor damage and no injuries but rattled nerves due to its proximity to the nation's oldest civil rights organization. Federal officials say they do not know whether the NAACP was targeted but are investigating the explosion as a possible hate crime.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ravenelle said authorities drew the sketch of a bald white man with sunglasses based on accounts of witnesses who saw him place a device behind the building that houses the NAACP and a black-owned barbershop. The man returned to his truck and left as the device detonated.

Ravenelle said there were no threats to the NAACP in the weeks before the bombing. "Only the bomber knows why he put this there," he said.

The crude device failed to ignite a canister of gasoline placed next to it, but Ravenelle said even if it had succeeded it probably would have only caused minor damage. He said that doesn't undermine the seriousness of the crime, however.

Colorado Springs police said they were stepping up patrols in the area.

The NAACP Has Long Been A Target
The homemade bomb that exploded outside of an NAACP chapter in Colorado this week brought back difficult memories of the long history of violence wrought against America's oldest civil rights organization.

	August 1965	Weeks after urging a Mississippi school board to accept desegregation, George Metcalfe, NAACP leader in Mississippi, survives a car bomb that leaves him seriously injured. No one is arrested, but the crime is later linked to a local Klansman.
	August 1966	The Milwaukee NAACP chapter is bombed, blowing out all the windows and tearing a door off of its hinges. No one is injured, as the office is empty at the time of the attack. Several Klan members are later arrested for the bombing. The Milwaukee office was bombed again a year later.
	February 1967	Wharlest Jackson, Sr., an NAACP treasurer in Mississippi, is killed when a car bomb explodes in his truck as he drives home from work. His murder is never solved.
	December 1975	An NAACP Boston chapter is firebombed. The attack is believed to be perpetrated by people opposed to school desegregation.
	May 1981	Authorities arrest multiple people, including Klan leaders, intending to bomb the NAACP Baltimore headquarters.
	Summer 1989	Shots are fired at the NAACP’s Baltimore headquarters.
	August 1989	The NAACP Atlanta office receives a tear gas bomb in the mail, injuring multiple people.
	December 1989	Robert E. Robinson, a Savannah, Georgia, NAACP attorney, is killed by a mail bomb. The mail-bomber is later arrested and sentenced to death.
	December 1989	Mail bomb sent to Jacksonville, Florida, NAACP branch. No one is injured, as the bomb is detected and defused.
	July 1993	The Tacoma, Washington, NAACP branch meeting hall is bombed, causing minor damage and no injuries. A white supremacist is later arrested for the bombing.
	July 1993	Sacramento, California, NAACP chapter is firebombed. White supremacists are later investigated for the crime.
	January 2011	The FBI thwarts a white supremacist’s plot to bomb an NAACP march for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Spokane, Washington.
	January 2015	A bomb explodes outside of a Colorado Springs NAACP chapter. There are no damages and no one is injured.