President Barack Obama was cheered when he addressed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s convention in New York.
President Barack Obama was cheered when he addressed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s convention in New York.
“I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009,” Obama said. “And I believe that overall, there probably has never been less discrimination in America than there is today. I think we can say that. But make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America.”
Obama may be a bit optimistic about the level of racism in America, but eradicating that pain, eliminating that prejudice and discrimination, has been the task of the NAACP since its founding 100 years ago.
One hundred years later, the NAACP is no longer railing against voting rights abuses or helping to desegregate lunch counters or combat Jim Crow and lynchings. The NAACP, 55 years after Brown v. Board of Education, isn’t trying to make sure white kids and Black kids can attend the same schools.
So what is the NAACP doing?
New NAACP executive director Ben Jealous, while chosen to lead the organization because of his relative youth, was also chosen because he seems willing to go along with the decisions of that infernal NAACP board. He describes the NAACP as “a multiracial, multiethnic human rights organization.” That seems to live out the true meaning of “colored.”
But if Jealous is providing leadership, it is hard to see, since nothing seems to have trickled down to the individual NAACP “units.”
An organization’s strength is not realized in its leadership or in its board of directors. Instead the strength should be in the individual “units” and those willing workers who have always been the backbone of the organization.
Sadly, those NAACP workers are not energized, and, in some places, are non-existent.
If the NAACP is going to move forward, and is going to be relevant for another 100 years, something will have to give.
If the nation’s public schools are experiencing a 50 percent dropout rate for Black and other minority students, it could be argued that that is the battle line for the NAACP. If the achievement rate for the remaining students continues to lag far behind the achievement rates for non-minority students, there is the front line.
______
To read the rest of this article, subscribe to our digital or paper edition. For previous editions, contact us for details.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
