Editor, Gazette-Journal:

An article that appeared in the March 28 issue of Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal (“Board fails to erase monument boundary line,” page 1A) included two quotes that mischaracterized the NAACP. As president of the NAACP Mathews Branch #7090, I’d like to tell your readers what the NAACP does and what we stand for.

The NAACP was founded in 1909 by a group of Black and White people concerned about the scourge of lynchings in the United States. The Virginia State Conference of the NAACP was founded in 1935 and the Mathews Branch was formed in 1944. Today, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, advocating for the “political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.”

The Mathews NAACP makes important contributions to our community. We gave $1,000 last year to the Department of Social Services to assist families in need. We award the Beatri...