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NAACP PASADENA

Legal Redress Committee: Providing the Way Forward When Racial Bias Provides Injustice

Legal Redress Committee: Providing the Way Forward When Racial Bias Provides Injustice

Who We Are:

The Pasadena Branch NAACP Legal Redress Committee (LRC) is made up of executive committee members Allen Edson, branch president; Richard Horton, branch first VP; Juanita Tillman, branch executive secretary; Ron Matthews, labor and industry committee chairperson; Mark Sutton, criminal justice committee chairperson; Kris Ockerhauser; and is chaired by Taylor Morton, J.D. 

We pride ourselves on being the great team that we are!

What We Do:

The LRC has many in-house advisory functions to the branch, the executive committee and the branch president  —  but no function is more important nor more rewarding than reviewing and investigating when and where appropriate, new cases from Pasadena residents or businesses. (Those who consult us who do business or live in other localities are referred to other NAACP branches that serve their communities)

Always busy, the LRC gets cases across the spectrum from the local community involving various claims of racial bias against public and private sector parties.  While our by-laws strictly prohibit our giving general legal advice, we however can and do either work to resolve those cases we can in-house, or we refer them to appropriate agencies and/or legal counsel for possible resolution. Our success rate is high!

Why What We Do Is Important:

In Pasadena it’s increasingly more difficult to find trustworthy places to go if you are of color and have suffered racial injustice / violation of your civil rights. The LRC has a network of referrals with different specialties and when needed, conducts the research necessary, to pair every case with the most beneficial referral we think possible.

How We Do It:

When a new legal redress entry (case) is brought to the branch, it is emailed to the LRC chairperson. It is then reviewed and shared with members of the committee, who are either asked for their opinions and feedback – or are offered a preliminary opinion and/or recommendation(s) by the committee chair with a request to comment. When there is consensus, the LRC chair emails a response, usually within two weeks. For documentation/verification purposes, all primary communication is by email.

The LRC is proud of its role and results; for as we know, the struggle never sleeps….