NAACP Missouri Travel Advisory Urges 'Extreme Caution,' Slams 'Jim Crow Bill'

JEFFERSON CITY, MO — The NAACP has issued its first-ever statewide travel advisory, telling people of color to "travel with extreme caution" in Missouri, thanks to a new law the organization has dubbed a "Jim Crow Bill." The warning comes after Missouri legislators approved Senate Bill 43, which makes it more difficult for employees to prove discrimination based on race or gender.

In the alert, the NAACP said it hopes to make residents and visitors to Missouri aware of "looming danger," citing the death of Tory Sanders, a 28-year-old Nashville man who died in a Missouri jail cell after reportedly getting lost and running out of gas on his way to Memphis. The alert also refers to an apparently racially motivated shooting at a bar outside Kansas City in which a gunman targeted two Indian men, later saying he believed they were Iranian. One man died in the attack and the other was wounded. A bystander who attempted to aid the victims was also injured.

"Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri," the alert adds. "Missouri, home of Lloyd Gaines, Dredd Scott and the dubious distinction of the Missouri Compromise and one of the last states to loose its slaveholding past, may not be safe. SB 43 legalizes individual discrimination and harassment in Missouri and would prevent individuals from protecting themselves from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in Missouri."

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The bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Gary Romine, said the legislation is a response to "frivolous" lawsuits he's experienced in his years as an entrepreneur. In a February editorial published in the Daily Journal, Romine wrote that that law would "help Missouri employers avoid meritless litigation and clarify their potential liabilities while retaining significant protections for employees."

The NAACP alert also cited a Department of Justice investigation that found a pattern of racially biased policing in St. Louis County. The study, sparked by the 2014 death of Michael Brown, found that although African-Americans represent 67 percent of the population in Ferguson, they account for 85 percent of traffic stops and 90 percent of the tickets issued.

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"Overzealous enforcement of routine traffic violations in Missouri against African-Americans has resulted in an increasing trend that shows African-Americans are 75% more likely to be stopped than Caucasians," the NAACP alert said. "These stops have resulted in increased traffic fines, senseless searches of vehicle and persons, and on occasion unnecessary violence."

The travel advisory is in effect until at least Aug. 28, according to the NAACP.

AP Photo/Estelle Doro