Time for a new black organization
Harry
Alford
Guest
Columnist
The National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People, NAACP, is in the
midst of another annual con
vention. It is fitting that the
venue is Detroit, a city void
of viable Black economic
empowerment, education
and real political vision. All
in a place that is 83 percent
Black. As the saying goes
"If something is wrong,
someone Black did it or let it
happen". Detroit is broken.
Black school board. Black
politicians at all levels and
nothing that amounts to a
hill of beans is happening
for the advancement of
Black folks. It is also not
surprising that the nation's
largest NAACP chapter is
located in Detroit. It's crazy.
I was asked, strangely by
a White person, to come and
partake in a press confer
ence that will publicly criti
cize the leadership of the
NAACP and demand signif
icant changes.
That would be shameful
to the legacy of this institu
tion. My father was a life
time member of this organi
zation and my uncle, Fred
Brown, ran the Ventura
County, Calif., chapter for
decades. We shouldn't do
this. I have an unconditional
love for this great institu
tion. However, that does not
exempt it from scrutiny or
constructive criticism.
Everyone seems to be anx
ious about doing something
different in the civil rights
arena - not only nationally
but globally.
Now is the time for
something different.
Extreme rightists want to
return to Jim Crow and we
fight it like wimps. We can't
teach our children reading
and math skills past the
eighth grade level. Our
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J1ALTJHE USE
KIT Photo
A woman casts a vote at a recent NAACP National
Convention.
unemployment remains in
the double digits despite the
best overall levels in some
time for the nation as a
whole. People in our com
munities are being gentrified
and local Black govern
ments seem to be encourag
ing it rather than preventing
it. Guns and crack are more
available than books or good
encouraging movies. In fact,
crime, especially drugs, is
the biggest competitor to
new entrepreneurship as a
generator of economic inter
action. Right now, there is
no civil rights organization,
directed by the Black com
munity that is actually doing
progressive and productive
work. Beholding to their few
sponsors, they cannot dwell
into the arena of pure advo
cacy for Black communities.
What this world needs is
a new self - funded institu
tion dedicated to the civil
rights and economic vitality
of Black communities
everywhere. We need a
major convention. All organ
izing convention that will be
democratic and well struc
tured to prevent cliques or
dictators from manipulating
and will allow a fluid move
ment to address a written
Strategic Plan and an under
standable mission. No prin
cipals from existing organi
zations need apply. An.ii
organizing committee needs
to start in Washington, DC,
the center of the free world.
This organizing committee,
if it has any worth and cred
itability will grow quickly.
If it does not, it will be
duplicated and wither away.
Another will take its place
until we get it right.
Funding? That's pretty
simple. 40 million African
Americans have nearly $1
trillion dollars per year in
disposable income. A mem
bership fee of $5 should pro
duce millions in contribu
tions if the message and
Plan are clear. A few million
dollars with the right struc
ture, management and Plan
will be quite sufficient. The
leadership, board and offi
cers. should be few but
totally dedicated I he
Strategic Plan, concise but
comprehensive or shall we
say succinct. The implemen
tation is key and must be
deployed in a very simplistic
fashion
Oh. how sweet was my
elementary educational
experience Our kinder
garten teacher was Mrs.
Womack who charmed us
into wanting to learn and
explore. Our first through
third grade teacher was Mrs.
Meyers (that's right, three
straight years). She used
repetition to give us the gift
of reading, writing, adding,
subtracting, multiplying and
dividing. When she got
through with us we all had it
down - everyone! This
included the new immi
grants flowing in from
China and Mexico. They had
functional English by the
third grade. By the time we
got into high school, we
could handle anything they
threw at us. By the time we
grew up. being unemployed
was actually inconceivable
to my crew. The question
was "How far do you want
to go? How wealthy do you
want to be?" Today, these
questions seem so remote.
This new organization
can defeat the shameless
state of our educational per
formance as a starter. From
there, we can move to the
next shame. In regards to
Africa, we can simply drill a
water well in every village.
That alone would eliminate
the majority of annual child
deaths in the continent It
can be done for about $100
per well. 1 just don't know
where the Sbillions spent by
US AID go.
The answers are right
before us. We just need an
organization that is commit
ted to it and geared for it.
Harry Alford is the co
founder, president/CEO of
the National Black Chamber
of Commerce, Inc. Reach
him at www.nationalbcc.org.
Quintessential white supremacist justice
I A. Peter
Bailey
Guest
I Columnist
When first hearing
about the then 17-year old
Black male teenager being
sentenced to 10 years in
prison for a non-forced sex
ual encounter with a 15-year
old girl, my first reaction
was that the gii^ must be
White. It doesn't take a
rocket scientist to know that
there is no way that a
Georgia court would give
someone that kind of time
for non-forced sex with a
15-year old black girl. Don't
get me wrong, I have a 15
year old granddaughter and
would be extremely angry at
a 17-year old male having
non-forced sex with her but
it would be near criminal for
me to push for a ten-year
prison sentence . for the
teenager. The lesson to be
learned from this is that we
Black folks had better wake
up and smell the collard
greens and come out of the
delusional trance that too
many of us have been oper
ating under during the past
35 plus years. Old schoolers
had better warn young
Black men that though they
may have their interracial
flings in major metropolitan
areas with some degree of
safety, they put their lives in
jeopardy when they have
these flings in small cities
and towns, especially in the
South. Meanwhile whatever
is necessary must be done to
get that now 20-year old
young man released from
jail immediately.
?***??***??*
Over 25,000 librarians
poured into Washington
D.C. for the annual conven
tion of The American
Library Association. It was
enlightening to see several
Black book publishers and
one black distributor dis
playing their books in the
huge Exhibit Hall of the
D.C. Convention Center.
These included Brand Nu
Words (www.brandnu
words.com). Sights
Productions (eric@sights
productions.com) Solar
Publishing LLC
(www.solarpub.com), Africa
World Press (www.africa
worldpressbooks.com),
Boqks Subscribers (book
subscrib@hotmail.com).
and Third World Press
(http://thirdworldpressinc.c
om).
The latter is celebrating
Clingman
its 40th Anniversary this
year. Their books cover a
wide variety of subjects of
importance and interest.
They need our support.
Don't be like the NAACP
which, according to colum
nist James Clingman, con
tracted a non-Black publish
er to manage the Authors'
Pavilion at its 2007
Conference in Detroit.
When asked why, says
Clingman. a NAACP repre
sentative "responded with
an equally outrageous
excuse that they were not
aware of Black bookstores,
distributors or publishers in
Detroit..." No wonder that
organization is having a
serious relevancy problem.
Those of us coming out
of the Malcolm X wing of
the civil and human rights
movements of the 1960s
always had a problem with
the premise of Brown v.
Board of Education that all
Black schools are inherently
inferior. We regard that as
psychologically damaging.
All-Black schools were/are
inferior because of deliber
ate malign neglect by public
officials and too much apa
thy from too many Black
folks. We believe strongly
that neighborhood schools,
readily accessible to con
cerned parents, guardians
and activists then and now
can provide the quality edu
cation needed by our chil
dren if we are unified in
making that happen. Think
about it. What vested inter
est do believers in white
supremacy have in educat
ing Black children so they
can successfully compete
with their children? We are
the only ones who have a
vested interest in providing
our children with a quality
education. And we can do
that if we are serious.
A. Peter Bailey is an
Afracenlric journalist,
author, lecturer, college pro
fessor and activist.
Nigel Alston is on
vacation. He will
return the first
Thursday in August.
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