CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — The South Carolina NAACP held its annual conference in North Carolina this weekend.
They held their meeting in Charlotte because the group is boycotting the Palmetto state, which refuses to remove the confederate flag from the statehouse grounds.
North Carolina's NAACP also held their annual convention in the Charlotte area through Sunday, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord. It's focusing on getting out the vote.
Alethea Bonello runs the NAACP's southeast region, which includes both Carolinas, and is pushing for the strong turnout voting precincts saw two years ago.
She told voters, "Don't listen to what other people are saying. Be encouraged and inspired to get out there and vote."
She said it's all about electing the right people. This year alone, the NAACP won major battles in Raleigh, like the Racial Justice Act (the first of its kind in the south; which takes race into account in death penalty cases), a new hate crime law (which makes burning crosses and hanging nooses felonies), and new voting legislation (North Carolina became the first southern state to allow people to register and vote in the same day).
N.C. NAACP president William Barber, Jr. said there's more to do where he feels schools are becoming less diverse, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision banning segregation.
He said, "It is a sad day when we are fighting fights that we won May 17, 1954."
These past few years, there's another issue: the budget. Lawmakers are looking for ways to make cuts and the NAACP doesn't want to lose the social services minorities rely on.