The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

NEW YORK (AP) — Combining its century-old mission of fighting for equality with the instantaneous reach of modern-day technology, the NAACP has launched a program that lets people use their cell phones to report incidents of police misconduct.

The “rapid response system” was officially launched Monday as part of the annual convention for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This year, the organization is marking the centennial of its founding in New York City in 1909.

The system allows people who capture photos or video of incidents of alleged police misconduct on their cell phones to send it through a Web browser to the organization or upload it through a computer. A form will then be transmitted to the sender, who can use it to provide more information about an incident.

“Technology has basically put a video camera in the pocket of every child in this country over the age of 12 and most grown-ups as well,” said Benjamin Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP. (more…)

Bless their hearts!

The NAACP is about a decade late and a dollar, 10 dollars, hundred dollars, an entire bank short.

Most Black folks who are technologically savvy today already know how to get the word out quickly anytime there is some White infraction against us. Before there was Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., we made use of chain e-mails (you know, the ones where you have to scroll almost to the bottom just to get past all the “Sent to” addresses). Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune was one of the smart journalist a couple of years ago who was smart enough to tap into our network and further push stories like the Shaquanda Cotton case and the Jena six case into the national spotlight. In fact, he even sent e-mails to Black bloggers to get more information on such cases and to encourage Black folks to push his articles.

The days of waiting for some pencil pusher to log in a story and send it upstairs for approval are over!

On another topic, if you happen to be in New York today/tonight, the Empire State Building is going to recognize the centennial anniversary of the NAACP by shining the tower lights blue, yellow and white (the official colors of the organization).