Now that the NAACP is being challenged as a socially obsolete movement, far removed from technological and logistical advancements concerning the issues facing Black America, will they reevaluate their mission by transforming their ideology from victim hood to self-empowerment?

According to Bruce Gordon, former president of the NAACP, the organization is behind the times, both technologically and socially as pertaining to advancing the plight of Black America and the issues facing them.

As a polished businessman – former Verizon CEO - Mr. Gordon sought to streamline the movement by bringing it up to date; unfortunately, the other 65-member board cannot see the future of Black America from behind Bootsy Collins or Foster Grant sunglasses. Indirectly, Gordon suggested that the organization is not prepared to handle what Black America needs.

For years, the Afromerica movement has tried to awaken Blacks to the need for a new movement not based on Civil Rights ideology, but on a more progressive form of Black Nationalism. We have desperately fought to educate the people to think outside the Civil Rights box; away from the concept that Blacks need government to do for us what we can do for ourselves.

We do not have to force the political hand of politicians and laws that gives us God-given rights; we must simply take advantage of the opportunities this society presents. According to Gordon, the organization has numerous posts throughout the nation yet is not utilizing them efficiently enough.

Many argue the point believing the NAACP should not change its colors to fit the times but remain an organization that fights for the Civil Rights of all. However, the mentality of people have a lot to do with what they need, and those who believe they can handle racism in America more effectively themselves, would probably feel they do not need organizations such as the NAACP to fight for them.

“If racism were not here, then yeah, I’d say turn it into more of a social service, but the fact is that racism is still here, and we need to fight it…and changing the organization to become some type of economic organization is not going to help that,” said Ronald Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland.

Economic strength is what Black America needs right now, not protection against racism. Once Blacks get over the 60s victim mindset and focus on self-sustaining economic empowerment in Black communities, then we could use that power to fight racism instead of depending on the government, Afromerica suggest.

Black so-called leaders such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are no longer needed if Blacks themselves know how to handle racism. What is needed is an organization that will unify Blacks economically, politically, and socially who have the goal of strengthening Blacks and not subjecting them to political rhetoric such as the mocking promises of presidential candidates in Black churches every four years.

Furthermore, 50 years after the dismantling of legal segregation, more Blacks and others are beginning to realize that integration did more harm to the Black community than good by stifling the potential advancement of Blacks when more Black families moved from their communities to white communities.

Because the Civil Rights movement and organizations such as the NAACP fought hard for the right to vote and live and go to school with whites, it does not mean that those are the answers for today. Though the social atmosphere is not much different – we still fight racism – the tools to win can and should be upgraded.

© Mar 2007 By CR Hamilton