NAACP: A century of activism 'It's not about black people; it's about social injustice' * By Will Brown DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER*
One hundred years ago today, a diverse group of activists founded an organization to combat the social injustices of the day. While the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People recalls a bygone era where racial injustice was prevalent, the organization's push for equality for all has evolved much like the racial attitudes of many Americans, especially those here in Florida. "The push by many people in this state, they really want to see a change," said Adora obi Nweze, president of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP. "People of goodwill, be it white, black, Hispanic or Asian, I believe that they really want to move forward and be more progressive and not be a part of the past that alienates and ignores the fact that we all deserve a chance at this Floridian dream." Today will be busy for Nweze as she attends events across Tallahassee to commemorate the centennial of the nation's largest civil rights organization. Nweze is scheduled to meet with Gov. Charlie Crist for a roundtable discussion in the morning, before attending a banquet on the Florida A&M University campus celebrating the anniversary. The banquet, which is free to the public, will be in the university's Grand Ballroom at 8 p.m. There will be presentations, a video highlighting the organization's history, guest speakers and musical selections. Nweze stresses that all people must on occasion look back to their roots to have a broader understanding of the world around them. The roots of the NAACP took shape after the 1908 riot in Springfield, Ill., Lincoln's hometown. Following that summer when six people were killed, there was a push by Americans — white and black — to solve the racial problems of the day. The riots that plagued communities were a response to the many undocumented lynchings that occurred across the rural South at the time. "The pattern of almost exclusive lynching of Negroes was set during the Reconstruction period," wrote Robert Gibson, author of The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United States, 1880-1950. In a 1914 essay NAACP co-founder Mary White Ovington wrote that discussions to form an organization that would champion "absolute political and social equality" began in January 1909, but the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birth provided a historic date to begin their task of tracking racial progress back to 1865. Gibson wrote that by 1918 The Crisis, the NAACP's magazine edited by W.E.B. DuBois, was alerting 100,000 people about mob violence against black America at the time. But the activism and sacrifices Floridians made in their fight for equality has not drawn the national attention that made the NAACP, and similar groups, synonymous with the Civil Rights movement, Nweze said. The most notable examples of activism and sacrifice in Florida were the 1923 Rosewood massacre, the 1951 murder of Brevard County activists Harry and Harriette Moore and the 1956 Tallahassee Bus Boycott. Rosewood was a small black community in Levy County that was burned to the ground following a racial disturbance after Fannie Taylor accused an unknown black man of attacking her. The Moores were killed on Christmas Day by a bomb planted under their house nearly 12 years before Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated outside his home. FAMU students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson defiantly refused to give up their seats on a Tallahassee bus less than seven months after seamstress Rosa Parks refused to move from her spot on a Birmingham, Ala., bus. 'It's not about black people. It's about social injustice' There are some who argue the NAACP has outlived its purpose and America is no longer splintered into factions along racial and ethnic lines. Those people may be missing the point: it would be hypocritical for the NAACP to discriminate against anyone, said Adrian K. Fuller Jr., president of the Florida State University chapter. "If we were to discriminate, that would be going against what we stand for," Fuller said. "If any person of any race came to the NAACP, we would assist them. It's not about black people. It's about social injustice." Whether that perceived injustice is voter disenfranchisement, locating a biomass plant in a neighborhood or encouraging distribution of small business ownership across ethnic backgrounds, there is always some form of inequality, Fuller said. But he added Tallahassee is more progressive than most cities because of a steady influx of students that allows the capital city to move beyond preconceived notions about neighbors. In 2007, Shelly Anderson and Cynthia Sharpe wrote: It remains critically important to understand cultural differences as the country becomes a melting pot of people, ideas and beliefs. Anderson and Sharpe are the authors of Public Opinion in Black and White: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same, a survey, sponsored by the NAACP, that compiled the opinions of a diverse sampling of 1,268 people from across America. "However, in light of an ever-increasingly heterogeneous society, exploration of the opinions of non-white and non-black groups would be fruitful for our general understanding of the dynamic nature of American public opinion," the authors concluded. With technology and communication connecting the world and cultivating a global community, understanding the plight of "the little guy" becomes more important — regardless of race or ethnicity — said Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee. Last week Williams was among a contingent that asked the Attorney General's Office to enforce the state law that requires black history be taught in Florida school districts. Williams has been a NAACP member dating back to his days at Rickards High School. "The NAACP has been that beacon of hope for those who have had issues where they have needed to address their government," Williams said. "Whether it's been the Martin Lee Anderson case, the three-tier university system that impacted Florida A&M, whether it's been One Florida, or the class-size initiative, they have always been there standing up for the little guy." As the NAACP begins a second century of stressing equality for all, Nweze observed that inequality and injustice are not a black problem or a white problem, but an American problem. Her words sound similar to what Lyndon Johnson told Congress in March 1965 when he advocated voting rights legislation. "There is no Negro problem. There is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans—not as Democrats or Republicans— we are met here as Americans to solve that problem." Contact reporter Will Brown at (850) 599-2312 or [email protected]. -- "I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control, and at times hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." ~Marilyn Monroe --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Black Focus Inc." group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Black-Focus-Inc?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
