NAACP leader decries voter suppression laws

Voter suppression laws, particularly attempts to prevent young people and black voters from casting ballots in some parts of Texas, drew criticism Friday from the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, the 17th president and CEO of the Baltimore-based group, is in Shreveport for the NAACP's three-day Southwestern Region VI Civil Rights Advocacy Training Institute under way at the Shreveport Convention Center, 400 Caddo St.

"We have to make sure that our young people are not targeted by so-called strict voter ID laws like we saw in Texas," Jealous said, referencing an overturned Texas law that prevented the use of state-issued student IDs but allowed voters to use gun licenses at the ballot box.

Preventing gun violence is another issue Jealous and the NAACP see as important. He spoke Friday in support of college-age activists and the importance they place on the issue of gun violence and registration. Jealous also emphasized the trauma that too often occurs in poorer neighborhoods due to gun-related violence.

More at http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20130309/NEWS01/303090328/NAACP-leader-decries-voter-suppression-laws?nclick_check=1 .