Between the Lines: The Mfume Resignation: Now the 'Drama' Really Begins for the Colored People's Association

Summary

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The NAACP had survived the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s - though barely, hired its first second generation advocate, a "brotha" with an African name, congressional fame and grassroots connections - a 'sho nuff' twist for them in trying to shake that "colored" name ID, to lead the organization, and what was supposed to be a second and third generation "revival" movement. Only he was hired five years too late for the second generation civil rights movement. "Old timers" had already run most of them out of the organization, and the rest of 'em left with the firing of Ben Chavis. The third generation never really showed up, en masse, even though [Kweisi Mfume] created a new mantras for the organization, like "Welcome Home" for the second generation and "The NAACP: Don't talk about it, be about it," for the hip hop generation. At the end of the day, the NAACP was still the NAACP, froth with conflicts and compromise politics. Mfume, to his credit, did stabilize the organization, financially, and gave it a voice that, at least, people listened to. It's major initiatives; the absence of Blacks (and other people of color) in television and a rating system for hotel discrimination, never made any real traction (progress). Mfume's major victory was getting Webster to take the word, nigger, out of its dictionary (others didn't take it out-they only changed the definition so that it wasn't synonymous with "a black person").

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Between the Lines: The Mfume Resignation: Now the 'Drama' Really Begins for the Colored People's Association

The resignation of NAACP President and CEO, Kweisi Mfume, not only puts the NAACP back in the news, but puts NAACP "drama" back in the national discourse. Mind you, there is no drama like "colored people" drama. On the national lecture circuit, I tell people all the time, "you d...

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