With current U.S. politics reflecting a growing racial divide as displayed with moves to make affirmative action, Black history and DEI programs illegal, many Blacks ask, “Who fights for us?”
For the better part of the last century, the answer has been clear—the NAACP, America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization (founded 1909).
The NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund successfully mounted a legal assault against segregation, with Thurgood Marshall and others regularly fighting against injustices in courtrooms nationally, including in Texas. The organization’s many local chapters have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Blacks across the country, fighting for justice and full access to all civil and human rights.
In fact, one is hard-pressed to find an issue Blacks faced over the expanse of the NAACP’s 115-year history that the organization did not speak on, rally around, and/or seek solutions to.
Still, the NAACP had its critics.
Historic Criticisms
In the 1920s, legendary race leader Marcus Garvey contended that the NAACP and all other integration-focused organizations were leading Black people to powerlessness and total dependence upon whites. Yet, during those same times, W.E.B. DuBois led the NAACP’s “Crisis Magazine,” which served as a useful tool in keeping Blacks abreast of major issues and helping to rally Blacks around critical causes.
Ida B. Wells, who is considered one of the NAACP’s co-founders, had issues with the organization’s early priorities. Because lynching was a pressing danger facing Blacks, she wanted the new organization to make an anti-lynching campaign and plan for Black self-defense the NAACP’s top priority.
In its charter, the NAACP promised to champion equal rights and eliminate racial prejudice, and to “advance the interest of colored citizens” regarding voting rights, legal justice, and educational and employment opportunities. Though anti-lynching was an early focus, historians point out that the majority of NAACP founders viewed Wells’ focus on self-defense as too radical.
Respect for Past Work
Still, over the past century, the NAACP has helped us clear every major hurdle Blacks faced, positively impacting millions.
“My life is the direct product, if you will, of the legacy of the blood, sweat, and tears of the NAACP. So, today, I’m particularly mindful that the NAACP has made America what it is and certainly, made my life possible and we are all grateful heirs of that legacy,” said Sedrick Keeler, host of KPFT show “Conscious Mindset.”
“When I think about the power of the NAACP in the past, I think about how it aligned in some ways with the people; even if not always in its leadership, but in the work, the media it shared, the legal arm, and the coalition building,” said Secunda Joseph, activist, entrepreneur and radio show host.” “NAACP is a name the people trusted, willing to go outside the status quo and push the line, more leaning to some radicalness.”
Yet, more and more Blacks, especially Millennials and younger, are asking aloud if the NAACP has outlived its usefulness.
Current Views
Joseph is one of those who questions if the NAACP in its current iteration, still possesses the fight and willingness to go beyond the status quo.
“Now I think of the NAACP as more of a conservative Democratic Party that does have some loyalty to the middle-class Black political elite, and so it does have power. But, to do what? What is it willing to do with the power?”
Joseph believes it can regain its edge once again if NAACP leadership chooses.
“For the NAACP to continue to be a force for good and a vestige of change, it must be able to address the challenges facing our communities and build upon the legacy of its past to make a more inclusive, equitable future,” shared Keeler.
For Keeler, that means the NAACP “making itself more accessible and effective in galvanizing the community, particularly the youth.”
Tammie Lang Campbell, founder and executive director of Honey Brown Hope Foundation and the Missouri City and Vicinity NAACP’s first female president, asserts that the NAACP has always been relevant and is needed now more than ever.
“Because our country, America, has not fulfilled its liberation promise to its Black citizens, because Black people are still being killed because of the color of our skin, still being profiled and terrorized by the criminal justice system, because of the mass incarceration of Black people, because Black children are being pushed out of school and set-up for the prison system, because Black households have the lowest homeownership rate nationally, because Blacks are still struggling for economic equity in business, on the job and everyday life; the NAACP’s mission is just as relevant as it was on Feb. 12, 1909, when it was created to dismantle racial oppression.”
Today’s NAACP Program
According to the NAACP’s national office website, the organization’s main areas of focus today include Race & Justice, Inclusive Economy, Advocacy & Litigation, Education Innovation, Health & Well-Being, Policy & Legislation, Environmental & Climate Justice and Next Generation Leadership.
The NAACP has had boots on the ground nationally and locally, helping to maximize voter turnout, calling for police reform and an end to voter suppression, economic, medical, and environmental justice, and more.
Locally, the NAACP Houston Branch has been out front on those same issues and more, including voicing the anger of many area residents with the state takeover of HISD and the lack of gun law reform legislation in the wake of continued mass shootings.
In January 2021, Dr. James Dixon, then newly elected NAACP Houston president, addressed accusations that the NAACP had outlived its usefulness.
“I get excited when people say the NAACP is old-school and outdated. You know everything gets old, if it stays around. The key is to continue to reinvent yourself and represent yourself in a way that we remain relevant, resourceful and relatable,” said Dixon.
“The fact is, racism is old. Institutional white supremacy is old – 400-plus years old, and the knee on our neck for 400 years, it’s not a new knee. We have to understand that we’ve got new ways of getting things done. If we can solve problems that people care about today, then I think they’ll forget about how old we are and then begin to think about how relevant we are, how soulful we are, how relatable we are.”
Recently, NAACP Houston Executive Director Yolanda Smith addressed the same issue.
“It’s not where we’ve been, it’s where we’re going,” said Smith. “We keep re-inventing ourselves with new issues and new challenges. We’re successful at not forgetting where we’ve come from but not resting on that legacy. We’re keeping all of the work and success of the organization top of mind in this new era of civil rights that we’re in.”
