NAACP issues travel advisory — for Missouri

The NAACP has issued a travel advisory for the state of Missouri effective through Aug. 28.

The advisory calls for African-American travelers, visitors and Missourians to pay special attention and exercise extreme caution when traveling throughout the state "given the series of questionable, race-based incidents occurring statewide recently and noted therein."

Derrick Johnson, interim president and CEO of the NAACP said the "membership-based advocacy organization … has worked for generations to protect the hard-fought freedoms of all American citizens — freedoms which are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution— and one of the most basic of those freedoms is the ability to freely travel from state-to-state without fear of threat, violence or harm."

Johnson referred to "numerous racist incidents and the statistics cited by the Missouri Attorney General in the advisory, namely the fact that African-Americans in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement officers than Caucasians. He said this is unconscionable and unacceptable.

“We share the alarm and concern that black individuals enjoying the highways, roads and points of interest there may not be safe and the national office will also be closely monitoring the progress of Gov. Greitien’s review of Bill SB 43,” Johnson added.

SB 43, advanced by Sen. Gary Romine, hearkens back to the Jim Crow-era.

The bill would legalize individual discrimination and harassment in Missouri and “prevent individuals from protecting themselves from discrimination, harassment and retaliation in Missouri,” according to the advisory.

The NAACP said it is hopeful the bill will be vetoed, at which time the advisory could be updated.