NAACP

It's the nature of things, that many of our experiences during this studytrip are based on an academic background. All the great people we meet share their knowledge with us. We hear, learn and acknowledge African American history, architecture, language, literature and much more. Yet our meeting with the president of Chareleston"s NAACP branch Dott Scott was special. The meeting with Dott Scott and her great assitant Katrina was first and foremost a very personal, privat chat during which we particularly learned a lot about contemporary African American challenges and experiences.

For those who are not familiar with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People): it is one of the most important and oldest Civil Rights Organisations in the USA. Since we have also met members of the Urban League earlier on the trip, one should state that the NAACP is more a civil righst organisation whereas the Urban League is a social organisation. Founded in 1909,the Association has outspread nationwide, with different branches in every state, such as the Charleston branch. The Charleston branch of the NAACP has celebrated its 95th anniversary this year and is thus the oldest branch in South Carolina. Ms. Dot Scott is the president of the the branch, and although retired, she says it is indeed a fulltime job. One of her major tasks are mediation, property preservation, aid support for anybody who has to deal with any kind of unfair treatment, Voter ID help etc. Particularly the Voter ID issue is one of the greatest concerns. The Voter ID requirements started in 2003 and by 2011, 30 more states require specific Voter ID's to be allowed to vote. This is particularly problematic since a birth certificate is needed in order to get the Voter ID. However especially the older african american generations were still born in their own houses and therefore never got a birth certificate. often there are also mistakes on the certificate concernign the name. To solve these kinds of problems, money for a lawyer is needed, yet most of them are too poor to afford a lawyer. This has a devestating effect: about 178.000 votes get lost due to this problematic--most of them belonging to minority groups. Therefore Dot Scott, Katrina and the NAACP work hard to help solving these problems. Nonetheless it is crucial to mention that the NAACP will by no means give any advise who to vote for, they are officially politically neutral. But that is really only one of the many issues they are facing every day.

Dott Scott, who was awarded at the 100th anniversary of the NAACP in New York infront of 10.000 people, really made this a wonderful experience for us and particularly important she gave us a great insight of the daily work in a civil rights organisation. Therefore we just have to say thank you Dot and Katrina.

Bettina Schuster