SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Authorities are investigating a bomb explosion at an NAACP chapter in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo: Whitney Wild/KUSA-TV)
NAACP Vows Not To Be Deterred After Bomb Detonates Outside Offices
'We believe in civil rights for all... we won't work in fear,' says chapter president.
Jan 07, 2015
A homemade bomb detonated on Tuesday at the NAACP chapter offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the FBI said.
No deaths or injuries were reported. The explosion may have been intended to be bigger than it was. A gas can next to the bomb, which was set next to an exterior wall outside the NAACP headquarters, failed to ignite, according to the FBI's Denver office. The blast from the "improvised explosion device" reportedly caused "only minimal surface charring" to the building.
FBI officials are seeking a person of interest who was described as a balding white male around 40 years old, possibly driving a pick-up truck.
As ThinkProgress notes, bombings of civil rights organizations were a terrorist tactic that was often seen during the Jim Crow era:
Although the apparent bomber's motives are not yet known, bombings were a common terrorist tactic during the Jim Crow era. The city of Birmingham, Alabama became known as "Bombingham" due to a rash of bombings targeting black homes and churches, including a 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.
Henry Allen, Jr., president of the NAACP chapter, said the organization would not call the bombing a hate crime without further information--but that it would not be deterred from its civil rights work, either.
"We believe in civil rights for all, and really we won't work in fear and we won't be deterred," Allen told the Gazette. "We'll move on. This won't deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A homemade bomb detonated on Tuesday at the NAACP chapter offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the FBI said.
No deaths or injuries were reported. The explosion may have been intended to be bigger than it was. A gas can next to the bomb, which was set next to an exterior wall outside the NAACP headquarters, failed to ignite, according to the FBI's Denver office. The blast from the "improvised explosion device" reportedly caused "only minimal surface charring" to the building.
FBI officials are seeking a person of interest who was described as a balding white male around 40 years old, possibly driving a pick-up truck.
As ThinkProgress notes, bombings of civil rights organizations were a terrorist tactic that was often seen during the Jim Crow era:
Although the apparent bomber's motives are not yet known, bombings were a common terrorist tactic during the Jim Crow era. The city of Birmingham, Alabama became known as "Bombingham" due to a rash of bombings targeting black homes and churches, including a 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.
Henry Allen, Jr., president of the NAACP chapter, said the organization would not call the bombing a hate crime without further information--but that it would not be deterred from its civil rights work, either.
"We believe in civil rights for all, and really we won't work in fear and we won't be deterred," Allen told the Gazette. "We'll move on. This won't deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community."
A homemade bomb detonated on Tuesday at the NAACP chapter offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the FBI said.
No deaths or injuries were reported. The explosion may have been intended to be bigger than it was. A gas can next to the bomb, which was set next to an exterior wall outside the NAACP headquarters, failed to ignite, according to the FBI's Denver office. The blast from the "improvised explosion device" reportedly caused "only minimal surface charring" to the building.
FBI officials are seeking a person of interest who was described as a balding white male around 40 years old, possibly driving a pick-up truck.
As ThinkProgress notes, bombings of civil rights organizations were a terrorist tactic that was often seen during the Jim Crow era:
Although the apparent bomber's motives are not yet known, bombings were a common terrorist tactic during the Jim Crow era. The city of Birmingham, Alabama became known as "Bombingham" due to a rash of bombings targeting black homes and churches, including a 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.
Henry Allen, Jr., president of the NAACP chapter, said the organization would not call the bombing a hate crime without further information--but that it would not be deterred from its civil rights work, either.
"We believe in civil rights for all, and really we won't work in fear and we won't be deterred," Allen told the Gazette. "We'll move on. This won't deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.