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= John R. Hatcher III =

American social activist and civil rights leader and Vietnam war veteran (April 19, 1932 - November 3, 2017)
John R. Hatcher III was the president of the Ventura County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he was a life member, NAACP Southern Area President, and NAACP Region One representative. Hatcher joined the NAACP and served over sixty years as a civil rights leader/advocate. He was the longest serving president in Ventura County NAACP, serving over more than 38 years as the branch president. Hatcher was considered the “Civil rights champion and and was known as the great negotiator”.

Early life
John Roy Hatcher III was born to parents Josephine Hatcher (Jackson-Carey) and John Roy Hatcher II. He was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Hatcher parents were both educators. His father a professor at Miles College (Fairfield, AL) and Alabama A&M (Huntsville, AL). Miles and Alabama College were private historically black liberal arts colleges. Hatcher's mother nicknamed "Ma-dear" was an elementary school teacher and a part-time hairdresser.

John R. III as known to many, was the eldest of seven children, Philip, Edward, Jacquelyne (Jackie), Irma Jean, Donald, and Clifford. Hatcher grew up in Collegeville, a small area in Birmingham, where he attended A. H. Parker High School. Hatcher passionate about music played the trombone in the high school band.

Hatcher raised in the church, his family attended St. Luke, African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, in North Birmingham. Hatcher growing up in what was called the new deal era, blacks enduring racial segregation, Jim Crow laws, and white supremacy. Blacks’ lynching’s in the south were prevalent and black voter registration was oppressed. Black’s faced legal and economic disparities, and violent consequences in attempts to exercise their rights. The black churches vital in the civil rights movement were the core central meeting place, hosting mass meetings, gathering places for rallies and marches. They also served as emotional and spiritual support place to go, when there was no where else to go.

Hatcher Sr. encouraged and instill in his son John R. and his siblings the importance of the civil rights movement and their need to remain vigilant in it. Hatcher Sr. taught his son to stand up and defend the rights of others who could not defend themselves, took his son to rallies and protest in Birmingham. Hatcher Sr. believed that the blacks would only further advance themselves through education, voter rights, and legislation.

Hatcher Sr. taught his son John R. when he turned of age to vote, if you are asked a silly question, then you answer it back with a silly answer. John R. the day he went to register to vote, often laughed about the questions he was asked and the answers he gave. Two questions John R. recalled he was asked was, what is George Washington's wife's name? He answered Mrs. Washington. The next question he was asked was, how many bubbles are in a bar of soap? John R. answered there are 9868 bubbles in a bar of soap.

Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement
Bombingham, the nickname for Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement, was considered one of the most racially divided cities in the United States. Bombings occurred between 1947 and 1965 in the city. The bombings were initially used against Blacks attempting to move into white neighborhoods. Later, the bombings were used against anyone working towards racial desegregation. In the 1950's the height of the fight for desegregation in the United States, Birmingham became the center of it.

Hatcher's parent's very active in the civil rights movement, were local civil rights leaders in Birmingham, AL. Hatcher Sr. a notable figure was one of the founding members member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branch in Birmingham and the Progressive Democratic Council of Alabama in North Birmingham. Hatcher Sr. would often hold meetings in their Cottageville home on 29th Avenue, the home a frequent stop for activists passing through. Hatcher Sr. committed to his beliefs in fighting for racial equality, would walk to house to house registering voters. Hatcher Sr. belief in the voter registration system once registered over 10,000 voters. Hatcher Sr. would host classes to educated blacks in the community on what to say when they went to register to vote.

In 1953, Hatcher Sr. a known local leader met Fred Shuttlesworth the new pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church. Shuttlesworth lived two blocks away from the Hatcher's home. Shuttlesworth joined the local NAACP Birmingham branch. The branch very activity in the civil rights movement would campaign the right to vote, advocating to end segregation in public facilities, restaurants, schools, and stores, by pressure business to hire blacks. In 1956, in the height of the civil rights movement the State of Alabama banned the NAACP from operating in the state, NAACP v. Alabama. Hatcher Sr, Shuttlesworth, and other local leaders Fred Foster, Clarence Whisenant (Pan) and Ed Gardner went on to establish the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) to take on the work of the NAACP. Sadly, in 1957 a year later after the founding of ACMHR Hatcher Sr. died.

In 1988 Birmingham, AL acknowledging Hatcher Sr. involvement in the civil rights movement paid tribute to Hatcher Sr. as a local community leader by honoring him and memorializing 29th street in Birmingham, Al. with his name. The location of the street sign is on the same street that Hatcher raised his family and the family home is still located.

Civil Rights Activism
Hatcher's grew up watching his father and his friends fight against the disparities black faced due being underpaid, wages stolen, and mistreated. They fought against unfair laws that blacks faced in the south through direct action campaigns and local protests against the Jim Crow laws. Hatcher Sr. teaching his son to stand up and fight for other who could not fight for their selves. Hatcher grew tired of Birmingham suffrage and the prospects of no jobs, employment for black’s was limited to manual labor in Birmingham's steel mills, work in household service and yard maintenance. Hatcher graduating from Parker High School joined the United States Army/Air Force to escape the segregation laws of the south.

Hatcher as a young Air Force airman soldier soon learned early on that no matter where he went, whether it was overseas in France or on the west coast of California blacks all over suffered under the laws of oppression. Hatcher resolved there was no way of escaping it, joined the Georgia NAACP branch. Hatcher on his off duty time would attend protests and marches with Hoshea Williams and other local NAACP members.

On occasional weekends Hatcher would drive back and forth between Savannah Georgia to Birmingham Alabama to visit his parents. His commanding officer instructed soldiers to wear their uniform for protection. Black commending officers in the military belief was people in the South respected the military soldiers and therefore they would not harm a black soldiers in uniform. Sadly, as many soldiers knew this was not always true, during one of the trips home to Alabama to visit his parents, Hatcher witness to his horror a black military soldier in his uniform hanging from a tree. Hatcher never forgot that image and knew that no matter what he wore or how he dressed he would always be viewed as a black man and the military could not save him. Hatcher knew that no matter where he went he could not hide his skin color or from the cruelty of what black people faced. He understood at the hands of the law it would not be fair or equal due to the color of his skin, and he could never escape the injustices and inequalities of being black. Hatcher, knew too well from growing up in the south that people that look like him often did not have a chance. Hatcher decided the best way to protect his children and others that look like him was to prepare them to live in a unequal society, and to do as his father had done with him, he began taking his children to demonstrations and protests, teaching them about being black in America. He taught the young adults what to do or what not to do if they were arrested. He talked to them reminding them that they what it met to be "Black in America". He belief was in order to remove the systematic barriers of society, blacks had to educate themselves through higher education, vote and sit at the table to be able have those uncomfortable conversations about racism.

NAACP Involvement Highlights
Hatcher distinguished in Ventura County, the state of California, and nationally as a social activist, civil rights advocate, community leader, and humanitarian. Hatcher was known as a civil rights champion and a great negotiator in a time when our nation needed peace, and understanding. He served his community with dignity, respect, transparency, and healing. Defending and mitigating local, state, and regional legal redress cases. Hatcher was respected for working with local, city, county, state, and federal representatives and elected officials in negotiating racial and social issues. Hatcher, an outspoken supporter of human rights, partners with the United Farm Workers to protest the inhumane treatment of immigrant workers.

Hatcher in 1960 after he returned from Goose Bay Labrador, Canada was stationed at Hunters Air Force Base in Savannah Georgia where he joined the NAACP. In 1964, he transferred to Riverside, CA carrying on the advocacy, continue to fight for military soldiers.

Hatcher in 1973, retired from the USAF as a DoD EEO officer, was elected President of Ventura County in 1974. Four years later, in 1979, Hatcher was elected as the NAACP’s Southern Area President. The Southern Area encompass Southern California, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska, Arizona, and Hawaii. Hatcher served in this position for two terms. During his tenure, Hatcher also served as NAACP Region 1 representative.

In 1971 Juan Soria and Fred Jones (NAACP President 1966-1971) filed a lawsuit to desegregate Oxnard schools. Hatcher the newly elected president in 1974 continued the fight to uphold the 1971 Supreme Court order to implement a school desegregation plan to permit racially segregated school districts. The branch went on the offensive in a protracted battle against a state constitutional amendment that sought to undermine the Supreme Court decision by restricting the transport of students away from their "home" school. The members fought the Oxnard School District and, in 1978 six years after the Supreme Court implemented a school desegregation plan the Ventura County NAACP won the battle, and school busing was enacted.

In 1979, the local Ku Klux Klan plan to show the movie "Birth of a Nation" at the community center, the controversial film was the landmark in American racism, the branch in the midst of a riot between the Ku Klux Klan and the local community. Hatcher successfully lobbied against the business that would directly impact the black community and supported efforts to rescind a state proposal to contract out jobs held by county workers. The NAACP adopted a more aggressive stance on issues affecting the economic development of the black community. Successful "Black Dollar Day" campaigns underscored the importance of the black consumer market.

In 1980, Hatcher petitioned for the removal of the Confederate flag in Ventura, CA truck stop near highway 101. Hatcher and the NAACP members fearlessly protested and the flag was removed. Hatcher later commented as the NAACP Southern Area President how do I expect people to take the NAACP seriously when the confederate flag is flying over the 101 freeway in my county. No not on my watch, the flag had to come down.

In 1981, on June 2nd, police in Signal Hills stopped Ron Settles, a football star on his way to a summer job at 11:30 am. Settles was found dead three hours later, hanging in his jail cell. The initial report ruled his death a suicide, the police of Signal Hill said that Mr. Settles had hanged himself with a noose he made from a mattress cover on his bunk. Evidence showed the police repeatedly struck him on the head and legs to subdue while arresting him. Hatcher, the NAACP Southern Area president, and members from the NAACP and other civil rights organizations pressured for an investigation. A coroner's jury reversed the official verdict of suicide, finding that the black football player died "at the hands of another." Police officers declined to testify, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination were not charged.

In 1983, the NAACP leaders called for the black community to build and support black businesses to build black wealth. Hatcher, raised in the South, understood to achieve equality, as a people, we need not lean on others, but on ourselves to achieve equality. Hatcher stating, “no one can ever understand our struggles and what it means to be Black in America”.

In 1990 Hatcher and his family were among the targets of threats and racial attacks against civil rights leaders across the country. Hatcher understood how the escalating tensions between races impacted his life and the community he served.

In 1998, the school district was building an elementary school in Oxnard, Hatcher and the NAACP members and other black organizations advocated for the school to be named after the first African American Supreme Court justice's name Thurgood Marshall.

In 2014, Hatcher was credited for numerous civil rights battles advocated for police body cameras. Hatcher believed the best defense for minorities was to be able to have a recording or video to capture police activities, traffic stops, arrests or critical incidents, evidence to support the community claims of police misconduct.



Rodney King Case
"“For us to try to go back to tell black people in the community that justice is blind, they’ll say, ‘you’re right. It is so blind that they can’t see us. It is so blind to whenever something happens to one of us, we get the max if we don’t get killed first.’ And so, it is blind” ~ John R. Hatcher III ."Early in the morning of Sunday, March 3, 1991, Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest, after a high-speed chase, for driving while intoxicated on I-210. An uninvolved individual, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage showed an unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest. The incident was covered by news media around the world and caused a public furor.

The NAACP and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus and longtime police watch activists nationwide, believed the Holliday tape had flipped the script. Hatcher, the branch president, called for the change of venue for the Rodney King case. “It is a slap in the face to have the Rodney King case tried in Ventura County” stating it is having a fair hearing in Ventura County is impossible. Hatcher warned of the potential uprisings if the officers were not found guilty of beating Rodney King.

Hatcher, the branch president, called for the change of venue for the Rodney King case. “It is a slap in the face to have the Rodney King case tried in Ventura County” stating that having a fair hearing in Ventura County is impossible. As foreseen on April 28, 1992, three of the officers were acquitted, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge for the fourth officer. Within hours of the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots started, sparked by outrage among racial minorities over the trial's verdict and related, long standing social issues. The rioting lasted six days and killed 63 people, with 2,383 more injured.

Hatcher later in his years sated that "he wished activists in the community could have done more to move the trial venue to Los Angles. "We knew it was unfair, King did not have a chance, "What jury in Simi Valley would ever convict an officer".

Career
Hatcher was a United States Air Force (USAF) Equal Employment Officer (EEO). In 1965 Hatcher was a select few certified to train Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Law. Fourteen of those years in the military he was EEO Social Act-On Supervisor and two years as the Air Defense Command Superintendent in Social Action. In 1973, Hatcher retired from the military. Hatcher was hired by the Department of the Navy (DON) as Housing Specialist and later in his career as an EEO officer. Hatcher appointed the first black Federal Employee Women's program director. The Federal Women's Program was integrated into the Equal Employment Opportunity Program, under EEOC executive order 11478. Hatcher with expertise in this field also was a key developer of the Asian Pacific, Native American, Hispanic, Black Affairs, and Federal Women’s programs (FWP). Known for his advocacy he was selected to be Affirmative Action Advisor for State and local communities. In addition to this role in seeking a safe community for the black and brown minorities in conjunction with local law enforcement, Hatcher apart of his initiative to connect the community with law enforcement was often invited to speak to new recruits and hired candidates.

Notable Accomplishments
Hatcher’s past accomplishments included being a television host of the first African American cable television show in Ventura County “What’s Going On" (dtd. 1987), Hatcher hosted and produced the first black talk show in Ventura County called "What's Going On", the show aired from 1987 to 2005 on Jones Intercable Corporation. The shows highlighted community events and topics targeted to help people understand the issues and the experiences of racism in the nation. The show also covered an educational platform, featuring interviews and self-improvement segments He was a co-founder and President of the Ventura County African American Chamber of Commerce, and he was instrumental in establishing the first Ventura County African American Newspaper, “Tri-County Sentry.” Hatcher's a strong advocate of education most notable achievement was in 1995, the establishment of the NAACP Saturday School located on the campus of California Lutheran University.

In 1996, Hatcher help established the first black owned news paper in Oxnard, the "Tri County Sentry".

In 1998, Lead by Hatcher the NAACP Ventura County and black organizations advocated in the naming of the Oxnard's elementary school to be named after Supreme Court Justice and Civil Rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed H.R. 5659 Tuesday, December 27th (five years after the death of Ventura County civil rights leader), designating the U.S. Postal Service facility at 1961 N. C St. as the John R. Hatcher III Post Office Building after the civil rights leader. Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), introduced the bill in 2021, last year to honor Hatcher, who led the Ventura County NAACP for nearly four decades and rose to national prominence within the organization. The bill was overall approved with bipartisan support (Dawn Megli, Ventura County Star, 29DEC2022). The renaming of the Post Office is the first federal building named after a African American in Ventura County.

Education
Hatcher graduated from La Verne University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Psychology.

Personal Life and death
"To make changes in any kind of community, one needs to be able to reach the conscience of those people who are its leaders to make them see what's happening" ~ John R. Hatcher III

Hatcher on November 4, 1955, married Eloise JoAnne Brown, they had six children. Hatcher very visible in his community, especially among the black youth in the community, he was affectionally known as "Uncle Johnny".

Hatcher believed that "life carries with it a number of responsibilities, including looking out for those who are not as fortunate", and true to his philosophy of defending the rights of others, Hatcher never denied a call from anyone who needed help or in the middle of night and sometimes would go to the police station and wait to assist a family, or sometimes if he would go to the Sheriffs intake and sit with a family till their family member was released or he was able to see them.

In 1990 Hatcher and his family were among the targets of death threats and racial attacks against civil rights leaders across the country. Hatcher understood how the escalating tensions between races impacted his life and the community he served. Hatcher protecting his family took measures of excluding his family from the public by not allowing anyone to take pictures of them or he direct them walk away if he was somewhere he may not felt comfortable. When Hatcher health begin to decline he started preparing his daughter to take his place. At times questioning her about situations, taking her to meetings and often telling her "as a leader it is important to stop and listen to the community you lead, they will often tell guide you". Hatcher true to this belief, among other community leaders was called the "great negotiator".

On November 3, 2017, Hatcher died from complications of congestive heart and kidney failure, in Oxnard, California, at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife JoAnne, his five children Kayla, Vickie, Tony, Regina and Stacy, his brother Donald and sister Irma Jean and nineteen grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents John R. Sr. and Josephine, his brother's Edward, Phillip, and Clifford, and sister Jackie and his son Jay.

Hatcher's funeral was held on November 11, 2017, at Oxnard Civic Community Center, to accommodate the crowd, Hatcher's funeral services were the first time a funeral was held at community center. Dignitaries flew in from around the nation to celebrate his life, national, state, and county officials spoke at his funeral. Hatcher was laid to rest on November 13, 2017, at Riverside National Cemetery with military honors. Hatcher’s iconic legacy includes four generations of civil rights leaders, his daughters Regina and Stacy, granddaughters, and grandsons. After his death, Regina became his successor as Ventura County NAACP President. Added to the Hatcher legacy, John R. brother Clifford Hatcher daughter LaTonya A. Tate, in October 5, 2021 in a run-off for Birmingham City Council District 9 beat the incumbent John Hilliard.

Memberships/ Affiliations
Hatcher was a member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church(Oxnard, CA) and a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. Hatcher appointed the International NAACP Omega Chair, 12th District Grand Marshall, and elected Xi Psi chapter President. He was also was a member of the Prince Hall Freemasons, the American Management Association, Professional Housing Managers Association, the State of California Civil Rights Task Force, and a member of the Progressive Democratic Council of Alabama in North Birmingham founded by his late father John R. Hatcher II.