The NAACP New Britain Branch has expressed solidarity and support for CCSU students who held an anti-racism protest that interrupted the showing of a movie by a far-right student group.
The controversial film, The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and The Rise Of The BLM, was presented by the student group, Turning Point CCSU. The New Britain Progressive broke news about the protest against the movie
that attributes the death of George Floyd to drug addiction, portrays Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, convicted of the murder of Floyd, as the victim and broadly denounces the Black Lives Matter movement against police violence that grew after Floyd’s death
The New Britain NAACP’s statement is,
NAACP New Britain Branch Statement on CCSU Anti-Racism Protest
The NAACP New Britain Branch #2006 expresses support and solidarity with the courageous students at Central Connecticut State University who protested against far-right efforts to spread shameful, racist, bigoted ideology.
It is no secret that there is a rise in bigoted, right-wing ideology in the United States, including in Connecticut and in New Britain. The spreading of this ideology is often fueled by wealthy people, and the growth in the number of open adherents to this bigoted and greedy extremism is disturbing. The rise in this extremism makes it imperative that people of good conscience provide no space for it to grow unchallenged.
The NAACP New Britain Branch firmly affirms that the Black Lives Matter movement is moral and correctly stands up against racist inequality in society, including in policing, and that attempts to denounce this movement are inherently the promotion of racism.
Furthermore, the NAACP New Britain Branch firmly affirms the simple truth, that everyone can plainly see, that George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Those protesting against his murder, and the systemic racism of which it was a part, were and are moral and correct.
Finally, while the NAACP New Britain Branch defends the expression any viewpoint as protected free speech, that same freedom of speech protects the rights of those who oppose vile ideologies to speak out against them.
The NAACP New Britain Branch applauds these courageous student protesters, offers the support of the New Britain NAACP for their pro-equality efforts and looks forward to working together with them against bigotry and for equality for all.
