The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has adopted a resolution to address financial exploitation of elderly African Americans with dementia, the policy framework for which originated from its Pine Bluff branch.
The branch this week announced the NAACP’s designation of Economic Development Resolution No. 12 in its 2026 resolutions. This means financial exploitation of elderly African Americans with dementia is an official NAACP policy position available to every branch in the country for local advocacy and one that is stated grounds for pressing federal agencies to act.
The basis for the policy, known as “Jackie’s Law,” is an effort to protect Jacquelyn W. McCray, Ph.D., a 2024 Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame inductee and educator at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for 42 years until her retirement in 2008, according to the hall. The Pine Bluff Branch of the NAACP said two physicians diagnosed McCray with dementia and severe memory impairment in November 2020 and May 2021. A family member has been accused of isolating her from her power of attorney and transferring the family trust account at a Pine Bluff bank…