The NAACP’s Santa Clarita Valley Chapter hosted a community Q&A recently at St. Stephens Episcopal Church.
The event was part of a series of events celebrating Black History Month and featured a panel made up by the chapter’s leaders — Valerie Bradford, Barbara White and Rachel Geraci.
The meeting began with a history of NAACP as an organization, delivered by Bradford, which began as the continuation of the Niagara Movement — an organization started by W.E.B. Du Bois and other prominent intellectuals with the goal of advancing civil rights through interracial cooperation.
Following a riot in Springfield, Illinois, that resulted in the killing, beating and displacement of thousands of African-Americans and the destruction of their homes and businesses, Du Bois and other activists called for the founding of a new organization and established the NAACP in New York City on Feb 12, 1909.
“The [NAACP] is a civil rights organization with a long and remarkable story that chronicles the interracial army of ordinary men and women from every walk of life, and every race and class, all with one thing in common: justice and equality for Black people,” said Bradford.
Following Bradford, White detailed how the SCV branch of the NAACP was started in 2021. The chapter’s formation came following an incident in 2020 at a local elementary school — which the organization said resulted in the unjust search and detainment by sheriff’s deputies of a 7-year-old child accused by another student of having a gun at school.
“I think that was my biggest thing, like how would he know, another 7-year-old know, that’s something to give this kid a follow,” said White. “So when they checked his backpack, the only thing they found was Valentine’s Day cards, but that wasn’t enough. They still took this child to the office, did not notify his mom and had six sheriff’s [deputies] coming for the 7-year-old.”
The incident spurred support from the NAACP’s Santa Monica branch, but local leaders realized they needed something in the valley so that SCV residents had representation in the area. Geraci said the formation of the chapter resulted in support and new relationships with then-mayor, City Councilman Bill Miranda and SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez.
“When we first started there were many people that welcomed us, but there were also many that said there was no need for the service that we provide here,” said Bradford. “So we have spent the last 21 months dispelling that untruth.”
The SCV NAACP said it is currently working on “more than a dozen claims of racism, discrimination and unfair treatment of people of color” in Santa Clarita.
“It’s heartbreaking, but people here in Santa Clarita still discriminate on the basis of the color of one’s skin, and we are still receiving racist treatment from people, still performing racial property damage, assaulting people of color, both physically and verbally,” said Bradford. “But our mission is clear and no matter what, we will continue to do all that we can to improve the status of African Americans and other ethnic minorities when it comes to the political, educational, social and economic platforms.”
The panel then opened to questions from the audience, around 50 people. The following are selected questions from the Q&A with excerpts from the answers. The questions were asked anonymously via notecards.
Q: “Many people think of the NAACP as a group for Black people. How can we, as a community of mostly white people, collaborate and stand in solidarity with the local chapter to break down the defense of racism in the Santa Clarita Valley?”
Geraci: “I would say, in answer to this question, it would be a great idea to have the community connect with us just to see what we are all about…It’s not just for Black people, it’s basically for everyone. I’m sure that there’s been more times in your life that you’ve been discriminated against — being overcharged for something or it could be a number of reasons. You all have rights. We all have rights, and it’s the best nonprofit organization to learn about how we can support you.”
White: “I try to explain to people that the organization was not started just for Black people… and it’s a good thing because most of the strides that we’ve made as Black people were not done with us. We always had allies and things like that and the NAACP is no different.”
Q: How diverse is the membership?
White: “It’s very diverse. I’m not sure how many people know that Black people in Santa Clarita, we are about 4% of the population here. We have just under 200 members [made up] of people who really want to make a difference. A lot of times people come and they don’t know what to do to make a difference, but they know they want to be here to start. So that’s a big step. So as far as just being a Black organization, it’s not. Most of the strides that we’ve made have not been done by us doing it alone. We’ve always needed allies.”
Q: Does this NAACP receive support from local authorities and businesses? If so, how can more support be afforded and provided?
Bradford: A lot of times, people have preconceived ideas about what the NAACP is, and so even who Black people are. So I came in with the idea that I needed to meet with our mayor, that I needed to meet with law enforcement, that I needed to have a one-on-one conversation with them, to let them know what our branch was going to be about. It wasn’t going to be about always protesting or clashing with law enforcement. But it was hopefully going to be about partnering with them and creating a relationship so that we can all work together… At the time, Mayor Miranda was very open to working with us. He supports events, he attends our events. He’s very supportive of the NAACP. The same with Capt. Diez. He has been supportive every time we’ve reached out to him and asked him to assist us with whatever our needs were. He has been very supportive. There are other city officials, not so much.”
