U.T.A. Chapter of NAACP hosts forum around “STOP” Campaign

On Wednesday October 17, the University of Texas at Arlington Chapter of the NAACP will present a program regarding the national organizations STOP campaign. 

According to the NAACP website, The STOP Campaign is an initiative of the NAACP Youth & College Division that seeks to “STOP” the demeaning images of African-Americans in the media, particularly with respect to the portrayal of African-American women. 

There are six points to the campaign:

• STOP Defaming Our Women… by respecting all African-American Women and not describing them in profane and derogatory term

• STOP Degrading Our Community… by not supporting hurtful images that portray negative images of the African-American community

• STOP Denigrating Our History… by not supporting words and media that diminishes our proud history and insults our ancestors

• STOP Accepting Disrespect… by not patronizing companies and artists that put forth demeaning and disrespectful images in our community

• START Standing Up… by standing up against anyone who diminishes the capacity of young people

• START the Diversity… by supporting balance and diversity of content in the entertainment industry to create positive role models for young people and by demanding more African Americans and other people of color in decision making positions in the entertainment industry

The U.T.A. event will focus on point number one, with a discussion on the Hip Hop/Entertainment Industry and its defamation of women as well as African- Americans in general.  There will be an hour long panel discussion and a second hour of questions from the audience.

Last night I spoke with Carla Christle, who is the Political Action Chair of NAACP's UTA Chapter about Wednesday's forum.  She said that she was initially reluctant to plan the program because she felt like after the discussion people would get back into their cars and bump the same music they had just talked about.

But she says the program is not intended to point any fingers.  "We are not doing this to criticize anybody," Christle said. "It's a chance for all of us to look at ourselves."

Panelist for the night include representatives from Universal and Sony Records, as well as Swishahouse Records.  Other guest include reps from Demure Modeling Management, Hip Hop artists Trapstar, Countri Boi, and representatives for Young Jeezy.

The U.T.A. discussion is scheduled to run from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in University Hall Room 108. The building is located on the corner of Cooper and Nedderman in Arlington, and parking is available in the campus parking garage. 

The charge for the event is 2 can goods or $1, which will benefit Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas.

Thanks to Eddie Griffin for alerting me to this program.