Not much new in the news, but I couldn't help but note the idiocy in this story. The fine septuagenarians at the National Association for The Advancement of Colored Peoples decided any news coverage is better than none, and are staging a mock funeral for the "N-Word" today in Detroit.
The NAACP is putting to rest a long-standing expression of racism in a ceremony similar to one six decades ago. The civil rights organization was to hold a public burial for the N-word Monday during its annual convention in Detroit.Talk about useless rhetoric.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People delegates from across the country were expected to gather Monday morning at Detroit's Cobo Center and march about a quarter-mile to Hart Plaza for the ceremony and rally.
"While we are happy to have sent a certain radio cowboy back to his ranch, we ought to hold ourselves to the same standard," Bond said. "If he can't refer to our women as `hos,' then we shouldn't either."
While I wholeheartedly agree with Bond's statement, and I'd like to see the word no longer used, I wonder just how much an aging organization like the NAACP can actually be a change agent for such a thing. Come to think of it, when was the last time the NAACP was a change agent for anything? 1968?
Also in the article....
The NAACP held a symbolic funeral in Detroit in 1944 for Jim Crow, the systematic, mostly Southern practice of discrimination against and segregation of blacks from the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction into the mid-20th century.Riiiight, a mock funeral to Jim Crow laws waay back in 1944? Looks like that one worked immediately too.
The problem I have with such organizations like the NAACP, and to a far lesser extent, the National Urban League (which is far more grassroots activism) is that they are incredibly reactive, as opposed to proactive. In my short lifetime, I've yet to see the fruits of anything the NAACP has done in a tangible manner. I know that they're usually pulled in when there's some issue with police shootings or brutality, but other than bringing media attention (and presumably scaring white folks) to an issue, what cause are they actually advancing?
Why isn't the NAACP using it's considerable corporate clout to form partnerships with financial institutions and educating black college students on the perils of credit and the need for financial literacy? Why isn't the NAACP more visible in addressing the issues of unfair educational funding in our communities? Why isn't the NAACP raising awareness about AIDS, hypertension, diabetes, and the millions of other health issues that plague black America? Why isn't the NAACP creating alliances with black churches, which are pretty much the last bastion of "black establishment" to harness their massive human and financial capital for the good of our community?
Hell, on the issue of the "N-Word", why isn't the NAACP doing after Sony, Columbia, Clear Channel, Viacom, Harris Publications, and the hundreds of other corporate owned entities that could actually influence some level of change, at least from a media standpoint?
Other than holding a convention, usually at a white owned hotel once a year, what exactly in the hell is the NAACP doing?
That's a complex question, with no answer forthcoming. I guess borrowing a bootleg casket and throwing out some press releases is alot easier than real work.
NAACP Delegates Plan to Bury N-Word [AP]
NAACP Leader Blasts Bush Policies [AP]
