NAACP Can Become Essential Again

Like broken records, some complain over and over again that in order for America to enjoy increased racial harmony, institutions like the NAACP must be abolished.

Ironically, at this week's NAACP convention celebrating it's 100th year anniversary, President Ben Jealous said "we are a very black organization, but we are not a black organization."

In fact, on February 12th 1909, the NAACP was formed by a diverse interracial coalition which included: intellectual activist W.E.B. Dubois, anti-lynching hero Ida B. Wells, Jewish social worker Henry Moskowitz, a Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture and William English Walling, the son of a former slave-holding family. The course then was clear. The NAACP set its mission to fight for full suffrage and civil rights, and an end to segregation and racial violence. Many battles have been won.

So the question is, where does the NAACP go from here? ...

NAACP Convention

NAACP president Ben Jealous, calls for fair confirmation hearings at NAACP 100th Annual Convention in New York, Saturday, July 11, 2009, on Sonia Sotomayor and an end to racially charged remarks by Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking member of Senate Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Yanina Manolova)

New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg speaks at the NAACP's Centennial Convention, in New York, July 12, 2009. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization for ethnic minorities in the United States. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES POLITICS SOCIETY)

REUTERS

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer speaks at the NAACP's Centennial Convention, in New York, July 12, 2009. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization for ethnic minorities in the United States. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES POLITICS SOCIETY)

REUTERS

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks at the NAACP's Centennial Convention, in New York, July 12, 2009. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization for ethnic minorities in the United States. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES POLITICS SOCIETY)

REUTERS

Accused of being out of touch, slow moving and ineffective, Jealous is looking to expand the relevance of our nation's oldest civil rights organization and re-energize the image of the NAACP.

[Ben Jealous] plans to marry traditional protests and lawsuits with modern political tactics, using online social networks and a new cell-phone based rapid-response system to accomplish what his predecessors did via door-to-door canvassing. More importantly, he recognizes that many social problems have less to do with race than with economic inequality. Source: President Obama, new NAACP president Benjamin Jealous star at centennial, NY Daily News

And that understanding will be crucial in forming alliances across racial lines. Because in the 21st cenury, it will take more than racial or ethnic solidarity to mount any effective social justice campaign.

Rinku Sen, an Oakland activist who heads the Applied Research Center, a think tank on race, said the landscape for a civil rights agenda has shifted. She sees the NAACP's decision to broaden its mission beyond the black community as timely but probably difficult.

"There are a lot of new players in the game as immigrant communities have matured,'' Sen said. " . . . There are real differences in how groups pushing for racial justice experience the problem. African Americans, Latino immigrants, and South Asian Muslims don't fit in exactly the same place in the hierarchy.'' Source: At 100, NAACP crafting new identity, Boston Globe

Jealous has stated that he is determined to expand the NAACP from a civil rights organization to a human rights organization. It is a subtle but powerful shift. And if he and the other leaders of the NAACP can pull it off, the organization just may be around for another 100 years.