In response to the murder of New York resident Mark Carson in an alleged anti-gay hate crime this past weekend, NBJC Executive Director Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks released the following statement:
 
We are outraged to learn of the death of Mark Carson, a Black gay man living in New York, who was shot in the face late Friday night in what local authorities are saying is a hate crime. The murder of Mark Carson is another sobering reminder that the lives of Black LGBT people are under constant threat.

 
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), Parks & Crump law firm, and the McMillian family will convene a national press conference to address the autopsy results of the late Marco McMillian, a Black mayoral candidate in Clarksdale, Mississippi, who was also gay. Family members and civil rights community leaders will demand a federal investigation by the Department of Justice. NBJC has secured Parks & Crump, the Trayvon Martin family attorneys, to represent the McMillian family. Patricia McMillian, mother of Marco McMillian, will be present.
 
Confirmed speakers include: Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director and CEO, NBJC; Derrick Johnson, President, Mississippi NAACP; Carter Womack, McMillian family spokesperson; Daryl Parks, Esq., McMillian family attorney, Parks & Crump law firm. Other individuals/organizations expected to attend and speak, including politicians, will be announced in the future.