NAACP still protesting Catholic University's denial of campus chapter

Published: 2004-07-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As NAACP members continued to protest The Catholic University of America's decision to deny formation of an NAACP campus chapter, a university official said the school was waiting until students return for the fall semester to possibly reconsider its position. But that's not soon enough, according to Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He spoke July 2 during a four-hour protest held just off the Catholic University campus in Washington. Despite the sweltering heat, about 100 NAACP members and college students marched next to the campus, singing freedom songs from the civil rights movement and holding aloft placards that read "Catholic U Give Us Our Due." The protest was held on the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and another one is scheduled for Aug. 28, the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington that culminated with the Rev. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. "On this 40th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations, publicly owned facilities, employment and union membership and voter registration," Mfume said, "the exclusion of the NAACP from the Catholic University campus is a slap in the face (to) the many brave Catholics who marched shoulder to shoulder with us in past civil rights battles."

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