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| NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. |  |
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| ABOUT LDF |
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Welcome to LDF
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is the finest human rights law
firm in American history. That was true in the past and it remains true today. LDF's
impact has been profound. Yet great challenges related to racial justice remain. Many of
these challenges are mutations of earlier ones; some are new. The mission of LDF is to see that African Americans become full, equal and thriving participants in our democracy. At its core, democracy requires that all of the people be included in "we the people." For that inclusive democracy to function, it is essential that we see each other as peers -- in voting, in the ability to run for public office, in serving as jurors, in attending high quality schools, in obtaining and holding good jobs, in living in safe communities. Notwithstanding our differences, there must be an understanding that our differences enrich our collective perspective. A healthy democracy depends on this sense of the people being peers in a shared enterprise. LDF's mission has been to help create the essential foundation of a shared enterprise for American democracy. LDF seeks to insure that our democracy encourages the involvement of all races. Our Voter Protection Project has long been a leader in the effort to secure full participation in the political process. The Economic Justice Project has successfully attacked racial barriers in our economic system. The Education Project has been involved in virtually all of the important cases related to education since Brown. The Criminal Justice Project has worked diligently to dismantle structural racism throughout our systems of justice. While each of these Projects remains fully engaged in challenging persistent inequalities, there is no doubt that there has been remarkable progress over the last several decades. The legal apparatus of segregation has been largely dismantled and many racial barriers to achievement have been toppled. This progress is real and important. LDF played a crucial role in achieving this progress. In other ways, however, the problems of race have grown more challenging. We now frequently see large metropolitan areas characterized by minority urban cores surrounded by White suburbs. Many of those inner cities and their tax bases are deteriorating; the student population of those inner city public school systems is increasingly African American or Hispanic. The inner city schools are not providing the students with the high quality education that today's complex, globalized economy requires. The consequences of these demographic, educational, and economic trends have been close to catastrophic -- mostly to the citizens of the inner city but the consequences harm our entire society. As a result of many school systems's failure to educate alarming numbers of students, a substantial segment of America's youth has no realistic prospects of becoming productive members of our economy or their community. They are literally being doomed to languish outside our economy, and their status as exiles will threaten the health of our democracy. Success in transforming inner-city schools will affect not just education issues, but criminal justice issues, economic justice issues and political participation issues. Success is crucial to the health of American democracy. Long term solutions for these problems of justice and equality will require far-reaching change. No one organization can achieve that alone, but LDF has a unique role to play and decades of experience in developing strategies that have had a profound impact on our society. LDF will position its considerable expertise to leverage the momentum of communities across the country fighting for equality and human rights. Our democracy has never needed LDF more than it needs it today to achieve promises and possibilities not yet realized. |
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