For Immediate Release: October 23, 2025 (Publications may reprint with credit)By: Staff writer, National Coalition of Black Coalition Organizations
In a speech delivered to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committee the coalition chair Charles Blatcher, III called on the association to lead a voting campaign directed at 2.5 million Black and Brown Veterans. To an audience of NAACP members, coalition partners and associates, the group introduced the association to the coalition’s five decades of activities as advocates.
The coalition united approximately two dozen independent Black Veteran Organizations to preserve their shared history. The group functions as advocates on issues relevant to historical and contemporary concerns about Black military history. Blatcher noted that ongoing focus on the issues has helped address significant historical neglect.
The coalition’s advocacy contributed to the belated awards of Medals of Honor for two World War I Black Veterans: Freddie Stower and Henry Johnson. Their advocacy was influential in Former President Bill Clinton recognizing seven Black World War II soldiers with the Medals of Honor during his tenure as President of the United States. The coalition played a role in the creation of the National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, DC. The group was also one of the principal advocates who called for the removal of Confederate soldiers’ names from all US Army Bases. Their most recent accomplishment has been gaining the posthumous promotion for the legendary Buffalo Soldier Charles Young to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army. Former President Joseph Biden approved the promotion in 2022 with the NAACP’s endorsement. While advocating for Young’s promotion, they were instrumental in the restoration of the log cabin where Charles Young was born in Mays Lick, Kentucky in 1864. The coalition obtained Young’s honorary doctorate degree from Wilberforce University where he taught Military tactics and science from 1894 to 1898.
The group also nominated his induction into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame. Additionally, the coalition led the effort to have a 170-mile corridor through Kentucky and Ohio named in BG Young’s honor. The Brigadier General Charles Young Memorial Historical Corridor is the longest stretch of highway in the nation designated to honor a Black Soldier and highlights 10 historical black sites.
Blatcher said, “among the things the coalition take most pride is support for our Native American Brothers and Sisters. In 2019, the group joined the efforts to lobby members of Congress to rescind the Medals of Honor given to soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. The soldiers decorated for an attack on a Lakota Indian village killed three hundred people with a substantial number being women, children, and the elderly. Black Soldiers were not involved in that incident. Although Congress recognized this travesty, the legislative effort did not pass; still, the coalition felt it was the right thing for us to support. This is just one example of our advocacy for historical military justice for people of color.”
The focus of the coalition’s attention to the state of Democracy in the United States is a matter of more importance than our past involvements and accomplishments. According to Blatcher, we are witnessing its demise daily. An example of the demise is the current President of the United States announcing the intentions of his administration to go to war on the inter-cities of America. Coupling that with the on-going efforts to dilute and restrict voting rights, the nation is in a real state of crisis. To exasperate a dire situation, the 1965 Voting Rights Act is currently under review by the United States Supreme Court, and the prospects of its survival does not look promising.
Blatcher reminded the audience Black GIs paid a heavy price for the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In 1965 to 1968 Black GIs accounted for 20 to 25 % of combat deaths in Vietnam. Despite Black Americans only constituted 11% of the nation’s population and 13 % of the total Armed Forces. The combat death rate for Black Soldiers remained higher than our percentage in the population through the war’s end in 1975. Black veterans faced higher rates of combat exposure. The Voting Rights Act was a concession offered to compensate for the disproportionate loss of Black lives.
Blatcher said, “Today, the survival of the concession resting in the hands of a politically biased Supreme Court is not likely. Established case law holds no precedence in their rulings. Women have lost autonomy over their bodies and racial profiling is again the law of the land. Although the legality of voting rights is under court review, our commitment to voting should rise exponentially.
Blatcher said, the coalition recognizes the NAACP is the nation’s oldest Civil Rights Association and has long championed a Voting Campaign. The group approached the Association through the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committee asking to include a role for Black Veterans in a campaign to prepare for the 2026 and 2028 Elections. Blatcher stated that the two upcoming elections will shape the future of this nation for years to come. The coalition would like to work in tandem with the NAACP’s Civic Engagement Outreach calling on Black and Brown Veterans nationwide to participate in a VV Day (Veteran’s Vote Day Campaign). The campaign calls on veterans to make sure every eligible voter in their household registers and votes either on election day or by mail. We are passing the request through churches and social networks calling on Veterans to step forward and join the Campaign. We have asked NAACP to utilize its network to contact veterans through its chapters with encouragement to join this effort. Their involvement will give the Black and Brown Veterans community a collective sense of civic purpose while honoring those lives sacrificed on and off the battlefield for the Right to VOTE. The coalition is hopeful the NAACP, veterans and the community at large will join and support the campaign. ####
To view the video regarding Brigadier General Charles Young Corridor, please Click Here.
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