NAACP criticizes civil rights icon Andrew Young for comments

ATLANTA — The Georgia NAACP is criticizing civil rights icon Andrew Young for calling some demonstrators "unlovable little brats" in a speech to Atlanta officers, saying Young should instead join the protesters in demanding police reform.

Young made the comments while meeting with Atlanta police officers at a police station over the weekend. He gave a morale-boosting talk to the officers and thanked them for their efforts during recent Atlanta demonstrations after black men were killed by officers in Louisiana and Minnesota.

In a news release late Monday, the Georgia NAACP said Young should use his clout to demand changes in police practices in the U.S. or "go quickly and quietly into a well-deserved retirement."

"While not discounting Andrew Young's historical contributions to this nation's progress, Mr. Young cannot cloak himself with the memory of Dr. (Martin Luther) King and expect that serious students of the civil rights movement will not call foul on his statements denigrating legitimate protest only to appease his establishment and corporate friends," Francys Johnson, president of the Georgia NAACP, said in the statement.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/georgia/police-killings-sit-in-outside-georgia-governors-m/nrw7r/