MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The president of the Memphis NAACP and the mayor of Selma spoke out one day after a small explosive device went off outside an NAACP office in Colorado Springs.
The FBI said a small device went off outside the building which also houses a beauty salon and tax office. There was no damage.
The president of the chapter said he refuses to walk in fear and he doesn’t want anyone else to.
The local group contacted members in Colorado as soon as they learned about the bombing.
Keith Norman, the president of the local NAACP chapter in Memphis, thinks the bombing outside the NAACP office in Colorado was intentional.
“We’re talking about an office that people know what the work is about. We’re talking about a bomb. Whenever people use bombs those are symbols of threats and harm and violence,” he said.
George Evans is the mayor of Selma, Alabama. He’s in town promoting the movie Selma, which focuses on the Voting Rights Act .
He says what happened in Colorado takes away from the movie and the history behind it.
“It’s not good, it’s not positive and certainly it overshadows the movie because people are focusing now on those types of things, their safety and security other than the fact that we want peace and harmony and working together,” he said.
The FBI is investigating the explosion in Colorado. They say it’s too early to know if it was a hate crime.
Norman said this is only going to make civil rights organizations across the country fight harder for justice.
“We’re going to continue to look at the injustices that are taking place against African-American males at the hands of police forces and across the country. We’re going to continue to look at economic injustice,” he said.
Norman says they’re going to continue to have voter registration drives.
The FBI is looking for a specific person to question about the bombing.
No one was hurt in the bombing.
