OP ED: Rethinking the NAACP

cat's meow · #1 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 09:37 PM

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Rethinking the NAACP

By Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 (Washington Post); Page A15

The resignation of Bruce S. Gordon as president and chief executive of the NAACP this month portends an important and long overdue shift in black America's struggle for racial justice.

Gordon resigned after only 19 months because he disagreed with the NAACP's board on the best focus for the historic civil rights group. Gordon wanted to direct more resources toward social service programs such as wealth-building, tutoring and pregnancy counseling. The board wanted to maintain its traditional emphasis on fighting racial discrimination and advocating for social justice.

No matter where one stands in this debate, Gordon's resignation signals a critical impasse. The civil rights old guard, represented by the board, seems stuck in a 1960s mind-set that expects a particular form of response from black America -- pushing for government action to remedy the effects of discrimination. This type of response was popular, successful and necessary during the civil rights movement and, in some cases, remains a powerful form of redress.

The successes and failures of the civil rights movement, however, fundamentally changed the country's racial landscape. Of course racial discrimination remains. But we have entered what has been called a post-civil-rights age that requires an array of strategies to address the complex problems many African Americans face.

Gordon sought to extend the reach of the NAACP to include another form of African American dissent: the politics of self-empowerment. Regrettably, the NAACP was not inclined to alter its long-standing approach. Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board, rejects even the notion that we are in a post-civil-rights period, which requires imaginative and innovative struggle for social justice. Indeed, many current civil rights leaders fetishize the form of dissent most associated with the civil rights movement. They confuse principle with tactics. They behave as though marching and petitioning the government for redress of grievances is the only principled response to the maldistribution of burdens and benefits in our democracy. And they bristle at other forms of dissent, tactics designed to reach the shared goal of equality under law for all Americans. For many, it is either the old way or no way at all.

This is not to say that African Americans should no longer engage in political advocacy. But this tactic need not be the sole or primary focus of the country's oldest and largest civil rights organization. For example, the condition of many black children, from inadequate health care to poor education, begs for new and creative approaches to problem-solving. Why can't the NAACP commit some of its resources, beyond lobbying the government, to addressing the social and moral crisis faced by African American children? Can't we imagine tutoring programs as part of an agenda for social justice?

The NAACP should and must continue to fight for governmental responses to disparate health care, unfair sentencing laws and a bevy of other public policy concerns. But its leaders must also understand that the crisis in black America requires much more. If the board does not grasp this, then it has sealed the fate of the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

Gordon may have lost the battle with the NAACP board to modify its emphasis, but the war is not over. We hope his departure will spark a much-needed debate in black America, and we hope that debate will change the course of our struggle.

Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. is a professor at Yale Law School. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is a professor at Princeton University. Both are senior fellows at the Jamestown Project, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on democracy and social issues.

cat's meow · #2 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 09:43 PM

This is the quote which really stood out for me in seeing so many poorly educated Black children in this metro area (the %s are way too high)...I am all for racial equality but the NAACP needs to stop trying to legislate things and start really doing work on the streets...isn't this how they started though?

Quote:

Why can't the NAACP commit some of its resources, beyond lobbying the government, to addressing the social and moral crisis faced by African American children? Can't we imagine tutoring programs as part of an agenda for social justice?

cat's meow · #3 (**permalink**) 03-26-2007, 09:56 PM

I thought this was an interesting blog comment in reference to the OP ED and interview that happened today on NPR...what would W.E.B. DuBois or an independent thinker like Langston Hughes say today?

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The NAACP is in dire need of refocusing their tactics. Today in Boston there is no active chapter. My grandfather is an ex-head of the Boston chapter. Some of his primary interests were; expanding educational and housing opportunities for blacks in Boston. These endeavors are not alive and well in Boston. Also the post civil rights era has produced a brain drain from black communities since 1965. Business, schools and neighborhoods have lost their middle class occupants to suburbs. almost a black flight. The major crisis of the black community today are an overrepresented population of males in prison and HIV/AIDS. There is no leader in Boston or nationwide who has made these pressing concerns public. W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells designed this organization to adapt to the changing times, there is a need for a new Niagara conference.

Thank you

Vanderbilt Hagans

rob · #4 (**permalink**) 03-27-2007, 10:19 AM

Cat, that was well thought out OP-Ed you posted. I have thought for the longest time that if a system isn't working then you look for another way to make it work, apparently the NAACP board doesn't seem to realise that it's methods are out dated.

nathanbforrest45 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-28-2007, 10:03 AM

The NAACP will never change. They will never get government money if they can't argue all of African American's problems are a result of being slaves 150 years ago or discrimination 40 years ago. Who would join an organization that says, as Bill Cosby did, that some of your problems are because of the way you act?

I honestly do not believe organizations like the NAACP want to solve the problems, they merely want to continue to point fingers and create new victims. If the NAACP actually accomplished something and were no longer needed what would the leadership do?

I am not so naive as to believe all of our racial problems have been solved. But the issues today are brought about by individuals and not a systemic cultural bias. Part of any discrimination against African Americans today is a direct result of their own actions.

rob · #6 (**permalink**) 03-29-2007, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathanbforrest45

The NAACP will never change. They will never get government money if they can't argue all of African American's problems are a result of being slaves 150 years ago or discrimination 40 years ago. Who would join an organization that says, as Bill Cosby did, that some of your problems are because of the way you act?

I honestly do not believe organizations like the NAACP want to solve the problems, they merely want to continue to point fingers and create new victims. If the NAACP actually accomplished something and were no longer needed what would the leadership do?

I am not so naive as to believe all of our racial problems have been solved. But the issues today are brought about by individuals and not a systemic cultural bias. Part of any discrimination against African Americans today is a direct result of their own actions.

Nate, didn't Bill Cosby say that you have to solve your problems yourselves? Personal responsiblity who would have thought of that?