SACRAMENTO, CA – The California-Hawaii State Conference NAACP is proud to sponsor AB 1327 with Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D., (D-San Diego), introduced late Thursday afternoon.
This bill would require the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) to develop, in consultation with community organizations that represent the interests of ethnic groups and communities of color, a required standardized incident form to track hate violence that occurs at high school sporting games or sporting events, and annually post those results on their website. This bill will also require the CIF to report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities undertaken each year instead of every seven years as it has in years past.
“Schools are supposed to be safe places for students. Every time we let another instance of racial harassment happen, we let our students down,” said CA/HI NAACP President Rick L. Callender. “There are better solutions if we care to find them and we are hopeful AB 1327 will help in addressing this issue.”
“Racial harassment and hate violence have no place in high school sports, or anywhere else for that matter,” commented Assemblymember Akilah Weber, M.D. (D-San Diego). “AB 1327 will increase reporting of these racially-charged incidents and provide data to the public about when and where these incidents occur. These incidents have unfortunately occurred throughout this State and we as Californians need to do better. The conversation on how to approach that starts now with this legislation.”
During school sporting events, racial minorities are routinely targeted and subjected to racial violence. Throughout California, there have been several incidents of racial harassment and hate violence at high school athletic events. California does not stand alone, alleged fan abuse instances have been documented, among other states, in Indiana, Michigan, Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Maryland, and New York in just the past year.
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About NAACP
Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.