NAACP supports Watson-Burton bill to abolish Mercury fillings for children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers

Update:
This message is dated July 21, 2004. I believe it is important that the autism community learn the position of African-American leaders and civil rights groups with respect to the mercury issue.

*Bruce Gordon is now President-Elect of the NAACP.


Message from Charlie Brown:
African-American leaders have rebuffed a heavily bankrolled effort by the American Dental Association to persuade the NAACP to back down from its support of the Watson-Burton bill. At its convention in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization refused to consider an ADA-sponsored proposal to repeal its existing position on Mercury fillings.

Since 2002, the NAACP has supported the Watson-Burton bill -- to abolish Mercury fillings for children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers immediately, and to phase out its use for everyone else. Long a stranger to the civil rights movement, the ADA began a heavy lobbying campaign feigning support for the organization’s causes. African-American leaders saw through the effort.

Dirck Hargraves, former president of the Alexandria Branch of the NAACP, represented Consumers for Dental Choice at the convention. NAACP leaders Willis Edwards, a board member; Alice Huffman, California state president; and Ophelia Averitt, president of the Akron branch, stymied the ADA lobbying machine.

In advance of this week’s victory, four people played the key roles in getting the NAACP resolution adopted and in devising a strategy to keep it there. We owe special gratitude to:

** Ed Hogan, a government relations professional in Columbus, initiatedour first inroads with the African-American leadership, advocating a strongposition adopted by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Edcontinues to advise us on strategy.

** Emmitt Carlton, a lawyer in Washington, DC, and Alexandria, VA, secured the endorsement of the Alexandria Branch of the NAACP as a prelude to the national endorsement. Emmitt led the fight on the convention floor in 2002, testified before Congress in 2003, and helped strategize this victory in 2004.

** Dr. Ada Frazier, a Mercury-free dentist from Huntsville, AL, testified before the health committee and spoke personally with NAACP national president Kweisi Mfume.

** Once again, Congresswoman Diane Watson continued to maintain herleadership in the battle to abolish Mercury fillings. Her staffer Richard Butcher worked closely with the NAACP leadership to ensure that the Congresswoman’s views were strongly considered.

We will be sending a thank you note to NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and President Mfume.* We are noting the courageous efforts of African-American elected officials in standing up for children and against organized dentistry. In addition to Congresswoman Watson, they include Congressman Harold Ford Jr. of TN, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald of CA, Congressman John Conyers of MI, State Representative John Rogers of AL, State Representative Leah Landrum Taylor of AZ, Assemblyman Jerome Horton of CA, State Representative Bob Holmes, Ph.D., of GA, and State Representative Neva Walker of MN.

The NAACP’s role in fighting to abolish Mercury fillings has been enormous. For example, in Arizona, Reverend Oscar Tillman, president of the Greater Phoenix Branch, has helped us eliminate Medicaid’s “Mercury fillings or no fillings” policy. We look forward to continued cooperation in our battle to abolish Mercury fillings. We will not accept the ADA’s two-tiered system of “Choice for the rich and Mercury for the poor.”

Charlie Brown
July 21, 2004

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