The NAACP’s Baltimore City branch office was vandalized by a group of four individuals Tuesday evening shortly after the branch’s virtual monthly membership meeting had ended.
No people were injured, but a bottle was thrown at one of the glass tile windows of the building on 26th Street, and a piece of concrete was thrown at one of the windows on the front door, breaking the window.
The Baltimore chapter’s president, Reverend Kobi Little, was the only one in the office at the time of the incident, which the NAACP describes as “deliberate and targeted.”
“The Baltimore NAACP will not be deterred,” the organization wrote in a statement responding to the incident. “While we don’t know what the motivation behind this incident is, we do know that a group of young individuals intentionally directed projectiles at our building causing damage to our facade and our front door.”
It continues, “At this time we don’t know if this is retaliation for our advocacy, or an attempt at sabotage to disrupt our work, or an act of hate, or if this is meant to intimidate or bully the NAACP or if this is simply an act of youthful mischief. What we do know and what we want to make clear is that the NAACP will not be deterred in our advocacy. We will not let disruptors sabotage our work. We will not be discouraged by hate. We will not bow to intimidation and bullying.”
The Baltimore NAACP held a press conference Thursday afternoon, reiterating this stance.
“We’re not clear on what the motivation is for this attack, but…the attack was certainly targeted and intentionally directed at the NAACP,” Little said.
“Now, if this attacked was designed to cause us to be fearful, we tell the attackers, we are encouraged…. We’re encouraged by our faith in our Creator, we’re encouraged by the witness of our ancestors, and those civil rights activists who endured far worse,” he said.
Little recounted how their building has been the target of graffiti, they regularly receive incendiary correspondence in the mail and email, and they needed security when they had public meetings. He says they recognize, though, that this is part of the process and something they have unfortunately come to expect.
“However, this attack is an escalation, and we intend to take every step necessary to keep our community safe,” Little said.
“So, if this was designed to deter us, we respond by saying, ‘We are determined.’ If this was designed to intimidate us, we respond by saying, ‘We shall not be moved.’ If this was designed to cause us to change our minds about the issues that we’re advocating on, whether it’s calling for inclusionary housing, or calling for equity from the business community, or calling out bad actors in the government, or addressing police violence and terrorism, we are going to stay on mission, we’re going to stay on message, we’re going to stay on course.”
He ended by pointing out that the NAACP needs its community, and the community needs them. Little invited the community to join them in their advocacy so that together, they can keep the community safe, and “together build equity and peace in Baltimore.”
In response to a reporter’s question, Little said the NAACP would be making some “enhancements” to their security after this incident. He also said the Baltimore Police Department was “responsive and helpful” when the attack occurred.
The reason they had the press conference, he said, was “if you don’t expose what happened, you create an environment that invites it to happen again…. If you do something like this, you’re not going to get away with doing it under the cover of darkness. Everyone’s going to know.”
