NAACP hosts banquet to highlight Fair Housing Act and its impact in Austin

"There's a lot of work that needs to be done here in general housing and also equal opportunity. This is a giant step from our perspective." The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States.

Nelson Linder is the president of the NAACP chapter in Austin.

On Saturday the Austin chapter hosted its 53rd annual DeWitty/Overton Freedom Fund Banquet.

"Tonight our theme is 50 years of the fair housing act and its impact in Austin and in America so that people know that our battle is not yet finished. Right now we just had an election not all of us are aware of the deficiencies here and we're here to remind them we need policies that black brown and poor folks are included in prosperity."

Linder says the NAACP pushes to educate, mobilize and demand fair treatment and equal resources.

"We have to eliminate racial disparities not just the rich and the famous."

The freedom fund banquet started in 1966 and for three years straight they've had a sold out event.
Each one of those bringing in more than 750 people. "People care but caring and mobilizing mean two different things. We need leadership to have the ability to write policies and grant resources where they need to go. And they haven't done that for the past 50 years."

Linder says at the banquet; the NAACP is able to identify people that could work well with them. Folks who have a track record of working with inequity and gentrification. He adds, "NAACP has a long history of making a difference. So if you inform, commit and communicate you can do that."