CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After nearly a decade, the NAACP has approved the reactivation of "youth and college" chapters in Corpus Christi.
3NEWS spoke with local advocates who acknowledge that recent racial confrontations could discourage young people.
Vice President of the NAACP and Chair of the Youth Works Committee Thea Cain said it's a positive step that the national committee approved both a youth and college chapter in Corpus Christi.
"This council is important for our youth now because they are seeing so many negative interactions with our Black youth, where their color is seen as a threat and people make judgments and assumptions on them just based on their appearance," she said.
Local NAACP President Jeremy Coleman said that on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech, it's especially important to teach young decision-makers this crucial history. Coleman said parents should not become complacent when it comes to teaching their children what Black Americans have gone through in their struggle for equality.
Del Mar College Director of Student Leadership and Campus Life's Beverly Cage said she agrees with Coleman.
"When I was growing up my parents constantly talked about the struggle. And I think because we've made some strides we have some liberties that we didn't have 60 years ago that today's parents may not be sharing the importance of that information with their children," she said.
Cain said now is the time for young people to get involved on the 60th anniversary of Dr. King's speech.
"Sadly, I just saw a clip of people at the same spot just yesterday memorializing the deaths of three people here in our country who were gunned down because of the color of their skin," she said. "So as Dr. King said on that day we need to be judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin."
While the college chapter is still being organized, anyone up to 21 years old can join the youth chapter free of charge by visiting the national website here.
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