FORUM
Nature of politics changing
Ernie
Pitt
This & That
Sen. Barak Obama is seri
ously changing the face of
American politics. Despite
Sen. Hillary Clinton's refusal
to acknowledge defeat and
Sen. McCain's asinine fear
mongering tactics, Obama
'continues to bring more new
voters into the political
process.
Obama' hass weathered
every dirty trick in the Clinton^
and Republican playbooks. He
has dealt openly and honestly
with the issue of race, which
we have consistently viewed
as an untouchable topic. The
"elitist" accusation against
Obama was merely a disguise
for the term "uppity Negro."
Everyone in their right minds
knew that. The Clinton cam
paigners have unsuccessfully
played the race card but have
firmly been rejected by the
American people.
Obama is right when he
says that Americans are tired
of the divisiveness that has
characterized the American
landscape for centuries. The
Republican Party has held the
pinnacle of power in this
country for the last eight years
and prior to that the Clintons.
Yet, we are in the worst eco
nomic condition, the worst
housing condition, two win
less wars, corruption like
we've never seen before and
Photo by Charlie Pfaff
Ernie Pitt chats with Sen. Obama about his political and personal views during a meeting in
Winston-Salem on April 29.
politicians gouging them
selves at the public trough.
Obama has plans to end some
of this and the American pub
lic; both black and white,
believe and trust that he will
do just that.
It is absolutely incredible
that Sen. Clinton and Bush
and McCain can look the
American public in the eyes
and say, things that they know
to be false. Here's a case in
point: Sen. Clinton says she
leads in the popular vote (only
if you count the votes of
Florida and Michigan who
violated the Democratic
National Committee's rules by
holding early primaries).
Another case in point is the
relationships that Bush and his
administration have had with
Iran, Hamas and even Osama
Bin Laden.
Nevertheless, Sen. Obama
is engaging Americans of all
colors," races and creeds to the
delight of the electorate. No
matter what happens in
November, America will never
be the same. Thanks to Barack
Obama.
Ernie Pitt is the publisher
of The Chronicle and
President of the NC.
Association of Black
Publishers.
New ideas needed at NAACP
George
Curry
Guest
Columnist
&
The votes are in and now
it's time to rally behind the
candidate. No, I am not talk
ing about presidential politics.
I am referring to the NAACP's
decision to hire 35-year-old
Benjamin Jealous as its next
president.
Prior to the selection, I
made no secret of my belief
that another finalist. Rev.
Frederick D. Haynes III of
Dallas, would have made a
better and more dynamic
leader. I still feel that way. But
now that the NAACP board
has decided otherwise, this is
no time to walk away from our
oldest civil rights organiza
tion.
Supporting the NAACP
does not mean it should be
above criticism, however. The
idea of having an up-or-down
vote on a single candidate for
president - the one favored all
along by Board Chair Julian
Bond - rather than allowing
the board to vote on all three
finalists was an exercise in
raw political power, not fair
ness. And Julian Bond's deci
sion to lobby for having tar
nished primary ballots count
ed in Michigan and Florida
represents the first time in my
memory that he has been on
the wrong side of a major pub
lic policy issue.
Still, despite the asinine
talk about our living in a post
civil rights or post-racial soci
ety, our major civil rights
organizations are needed in
this era of Jim Crow, Esquire.
The National Asian Pacific
American Legal Consortium
reports that although White
men make up only 48 percent
of the college-educated work
force, they hold 85 percent of
the tenured college faculty
positions, 86 percent of law
firm partnerships, more than
90 percent of the top jobs in
the news media, and 96 per
cent of CEO positions
Obviously, there is still
plenty of work to do. Although
NAACP insiders didn't like it
at the time, immediate past
president Bruce Gordon did
the association a favor two
years ago when he revealed
that, contrary to the claim that
the NAACP has 500,000
members - a number the
group has been using since
1946, according to the
Baltimore Sun - the actual fig
ure is less than 300,000. The
NAACP likes to claim their
membership numbers are
roughly twice that, but they
arrive at that bogus conclusion
by counting people that have
interacted with the NAACP
electronically.
As I wrote at the time of
the Gordon disclosure, the low
figures are a reflection on us,
not the NAACP. With a Black
population of 38 million,
there's no excuse for not hav
ing more than 1 million dues
paying members. Of course,
this lack of support is not lim
ited to the NAACP. We fail to
fully support the Black institu
tions that support us, includ
ing the Black Press.
The Census Bureau reports
that there are more than 2 mil
lion Blacks living in New
York City. Yet, according to a
report last year by the Project
for Excellence in Journalism,
there were only 13,175 paid
subscribers to the Amsterdam
News in 2006. And that repre
sented a decline of almost 30
percent over two years.
If the NAACP is going to
grow its membership under
Jealous, it will need to move
away from some of the antics
that grab headlines, but
accomplish little else. During
last year's national convention
in Detroit, for example, thou
sands of delegates participated
in a mock funeral organized
by the local chapter to bury
the N-word. The next time
there is a funeral to bury any
thing, we should first make
sure it is dead. And the N
word is far from dead.
According to a recent
study by the Parents
Television Council titled,
"The Rap on Rap," the dread
ed N-word had to be bleeped
more than any other expletive
from videos studied on BET
and MTV. In Greenwood,
Miss., a White member of the
city council sent out an e-mail
recently referring to a highly
respected Black leader as an
"ole" N-word. Not only is the
N-word not dead, it is not even
injured.
If there is an area that
Jealous may be able to make
an immediate improvement in,
it will be forming coalitions
with other Black professional
organizations. He has the con
tacts and inclination to bring
about needed improvement in
that area. The days of a civil
rights organization being
everything to everybody - if
there was ever such a day - is
over. It's time to turn to the
experts in our community
instead of pretending that civil
rights groups have all of the
answers.
There are some things the
NAACP does better than any
other organization. Its ACT
SO program, highlighting aca
demic achievement, is excep
tional. And the NAACP Civil
Rights Report Card is an
indispensable research tool for
holding elected leaders
accountable. Creating sub
stantive and relevant programs
is the key to bringing in new
members, not resorting to
gimmicks.
Ben Jealous is young,
smart and committed. While
he was not my first choice for
the job, I'm hoping that he
proves me wrong.
George E. Curry, former
editor-in-chief of Emerge
magazine and the NNPA News
Service, is a keynote speaker,
moderator, and media coach.
He can he reached through his
Web site,
www.georgecurry.com .
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