By Raynard Jackson
Once again the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) has proven why it is the Hillary Clinton of the Civil
Rights Movement.
The NAACP used to be a storied organization, that was a
major player in the historic fight for full equality for Blacks in America;
that was before they got bought out by the Democratic Party in the early 1970s;
before they bowed downed to the alter of the homosexual community; and before
they sold themselves to the likes of radical liberal, George Soros and his open
borders crowd who believe everyone has a right to be in the U.S., whether
legally or illegally.
The equality that the NAACP once sought was not
predicated on some “special” rights or entitlements that some groups wanted the
courts to create out of thin air (gay rights). The NAACP and Blacks wanted the
rights that the U.S. Constitution already said we were entitled to. In other
words, the NAACP simply wanted the government to enforce the laws on the books,
not create new ones.
Like Clinton, the NAACP can never seem to bring itself to
accept responsibility for any of their own actions; and the plight of the Black
community can always be blamed on others.
This Clintonian tick led them last Friday to fire their
latest president and CEO, Cornell William Brooks.
Brooks should have never been hired for this post; the
national board selected him three years ago, because they wanted someone that
was easy to control.
Brooks was a horrible speaker and wasn’t as charismatic
as some of their past leaders, but he was easily controlled.
Since the 1970s, the NAACP has only had two heads, who
made any difference in America and the organization; those two people were
Benjamin Hooks and Bruce Gordon.
Hooks was an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and a
staunch Republican.
Richard Nixon appointed him to serve on the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in the early seventies. He was the first Black
to ever serve on this commission and is singularly responsible for the
diversity in media ownership that we see today. Without Hooks, networks like
BET and TV One never would have existed.
But somehow, the NAACP rarely mentions Hooks’ Republican
ties in any of the group’s written literature, but I digress.
Maybe Hook’s speech at the NAACP’s 1990 convention is why
they sanitized his Republican linage.
During the speech, Hooks said that, “It’s time today… to
bring it out of the closet: No longer can we proffer polite, explicable,
reasons why Black America cannot do more for itself…I’m calling for a
moratorium on excuses. I challenge black America today—all of us—to set aside
our alibis.”
Ouch!
Bruce Gordon came from a family with deeps roots in the
Civil Rights Movement, but he chose to make his mark on America by working his
way up the ladder in corporate America. He became a high-ranking executive with
telecom giant Verizon.
So, his appointment to lead the NAACP in 2005 shocked
everyone, because they typically hired preachers or politicians. President
George W. Bush had rightfully ignored the group and refused to attend their
national convention until Gordon came on board. Gordon’s business background
helped him to navigate the political battlefield and he was able to build a
personal relationship with President Bush, to the dismay of his group’s board.
This friction led to his abrupt resignation in 2007.
Gordon stated: “I did not step into the role to be a caretaker, to be dictated
to…I stepped into the role to understand as best I could the needs of the
African American community and then to propose strategies and policies and
programs and practices that could improve conditions for African Americans…The
things I had in mind were not consistent with what some—unfortunately, too
many—on the board had in mind.”
The national board of the NAACP demands undying fealty
and they love to micromanage their presidents; any attemps to cut their puppet
strings and you become useless to them. God forbid a president makes a decision
on his own or attempts to make the group more relevant to the 21st century.
I know many of their leaders from across the country and
the tragedy is that most of them don’t even believe in the issues the national
board has made a priority. Publically, many state NAACP leaders say one thing
and privately they believe another.
How can the NAACP claim to represent the Black community
when they are out of sync with what the Black community believes and wants?
Black community is very conservative. Blacks don’t
support amnesty for illegals. Blacks are the largest voting block that supports
school choice and vouchers! This, despite the NAACP passing a resolution last
year at their national convention opposing school choice. And they wonder why
they are no longer relevant to the Black community?
I dare the NAACP national board to choose someone like
Condoleezza Rice, Shannon Reeves, or Jennifer Carroll as their next leader; if
they are truly interested in regaining relevancy, that’s exactly what they’ll
do.
Unfortunately, the NAACP national board is totally
incapable of thinking outside the box or giving up control. The NAACP has
become the retirement village for the Black bourgeoisie.
