State NAACP and Arizona Commission of African American Affairs Commend Prescott Leadership
Officials from the Arizona NAACP State Conference, and the Arizona Commission of African American Affairs visited Prescott City Council yesterday to commend the City Council on their action in December, denouncing comments made by State Representative David Stringer. Further, the NAACP declared that they are not calling for or endorsing a boycott of Prescott.
Charles Fanniel, State President of the NAACP, and Mel Hannah, Chairman of the Arizona Commission of African American Affairs, presented letters to Prescott City Council at the regular meeting on January 23. Both letters commended Prescott leadership for the actions of the Council on December 4.
In his letter which he read at the meeting, Mr. Fanniel stated “I am convinced that we, the NAACP Arizona State Conference have made the right decision, by not calling for or endorsing a Boycott of the city of Prescott, Arizona.” He went on to say, “Additionally, I want to commend you Mayor, your council members, City Manager, citizens and organizations that took an immediate bold stance to denounce the negative, racist and divisive comments made by Representative David Stringer.”
In his comments, Mr. Hannah stated that “Our purpose on addressing you, the Mayor and City Council, is to commend you and publicly express to you our appreciation on your stand on statements made by Representative Stringer.”
Prescott Mayor Greg Mengarelli welcomed the comments. “We sincerely appreciate the recognition by both the NAACP and the Arizona Commission of African American Affairs,” said Mengarelli. “The statement that a boycott is not in place or endorsed, provides a sense of closure for the City, and citizens who felt that our actions last December made a strong statement of our commitment to inclusion and diversity in Prescott.”