An Opportunity for the NAACP?

from The Gray Area:

The NAACP, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is the definition of special interest group. Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.

The race of one of the most prominent faces of the NAACP came under question after her estranged mother claimed she is white but is “being dishonest and deceptive with her identity.” Rachel Dolezal, 37, is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP and has identified herself as at least partly African-American. But her Montana birth certificate says she was born to two parents who say they are Caucasian.

Historically an organization with a huge impact for the “colored people’ (as their name refers) community, having someone other than a person of color will be embarrassing and could be potentially harmful to the association.

The NAACP’s mission as presented on its website is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. While the heritage of their name suggest a more narrow mission, and for sure historically it has been, the news this weekend affords the NAACP the opportunity to now begin to live its broader mission.

In the 21st century the NAACP has taken a back seat to more militant ‘race baiters’ in the black community, such as, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan. Maybe this incident will be the key to a re-birth of the NAACP as a positive leader in the black community and ‘the rights of all persons’.

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