A resolution submitted to the NAACP Resolutions Committee is a formal request of the NAACP's Annual Convention to change the programs or policies of the NAACP. The resolution should be clear, concise, and specific. The substance should be well researched and must have been approved by a majority vote of the sponsoring Unit. Resolutions having been approved by this method must be signed by the unit President and the unit Secretary and transmitted to the President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP at the National office by May 1 in order to be considered by the Resolutions Committee.
Only resolutions which are recommended for concurrence by the Resolutions Committee will be put to discussion and a vote during the Legislative Session of the NAACP's Annual Convention. The Committee will review and may alter any resolution received in this process, in order to insure that it comports with the Constitution and Bylaws and to insure that the substance is new.
Resolutions adopted by the delegates at Convention must be submitted to the National Board of Directors for ratification at their October Board meeting. Resolutions submitted for consideration by the Resolutions Committee become the province of the committee and are subject to recommendations or referral as the Committee deems necessary. Resolutions which are approved by the Resolutions Committee, the delegates at the Legislative Session of Convention and the National Board of Directors become official NAACP policy or programs. The adopted resolutions are published in The Crisis magazine.
Resolutions should be clear, concise, and specific. The substance should be well-researched and reflect the majority view and interests of the sponsoring Unit. Units submitting resolutions are encouraged to carefully review the NAACP website for information on existing policy and organizational priorities. While it is important for the Association to offer opinions on a wide range of issues, resolutions submitted for consideration during this process should call for some action on the part of the NAACP.
All resolutions must have a common format. Each resolution has three parts: the heading, the perambulatory ("whereas") clauses and the operative ("resolved") clauses. The resolution is one long sentence with commas and semi-colons throughout the resolution, and a period only at the very end.
Attached to these instructions is a sample resolution for NAACP Units to use as a guide when drafting resolutions. The sample is a resolution presented in 2000 by the Boston Branch. Please note that it includes places for proper signatures and the date the Unit adopted the resolution. It is important to include a contact telephone number.
The heading for all resolutions should read as follows:
Subject: The Topic of the Resolution
Sponsored by: [XYZ Unit, State]
The purposes of the preamble are to outline the history of the problem, to show that the topic is a proper one for the National Convention to address, and to show the need for a solution. Preambulatory clauses can and should cite precedents as well as previous resolutions. The preamble should also specifically refer to factual situations or incidents.
The preamble may also include appeals to the common sense or humanitarian instincts of convention delegates with references to basic NAACP principles. The importance of the preamble depends on the question under consideration. In some cases, the preamble is merely a formality. However, the preamble is still critical, because it provides the frame through which the problem is viewed. This having been said, the preamble or "whereas" clauses should be limited to the extent necessary to point out the importance of the subject of the resolution. More than one page of preamble is generally considered overkill, particularly when the resolve clause is limited to one or two sentences.
The solution in a resolution is presented in operative or "resolved" clauses. These clauses must recommend, urge, condemn, or request certain actions, or propose a favorable or unfavorable position regarding an existing situation. Each operative clause calls for a specific action. The action may be as general as the Association's denouncement of a certain person or event or the Association's call for legislative action; or as specific as the Association's call for economic sanctions on a business or state.
Operative clauses are the heart of the resolution - they recommend the actions the delegates to a convention want the Association to take. They are fully debatable and amendable, and will sometimes go through a series of revisions before reaching final form. Operative clauses incite an action, condemn, recommend a shift in policy, et cetera.
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