NAACP president cites goals for 99th year

SAN ANTONIO - New NAACP President Ben Jealous has already been getting that question: if Senator Barack Obama is successful at becoming the nation's first African-American president, will there be a need anymore for an organization like the NAACP?At the 72nd Annual NAACP State Convention in San Antonio, Jealous, the keynote speaker at the Texas Heroes Banquet, addressed the audience on how he's been answering that question.

"The operative word in NAACP is "double A," Jealous said. "We're not the N-'triple A'-CP, not the National Association for the Advancement of A Colored Person.

Drawing laughter from the crowd, Jealous continued: "What decides whether or not we go out of business or not is the condition of the grassroots."

The 35-year-old Jealous, the organization's youngest president ever, was kept busy throughout the day, meeting and greeting NAACP members, young and old, heads of the various chapters and holding press conferences for both the mainstream media and Black press. Based on the adage that no one knows where they're going unless they know where they're coming from, he reminded the convention crowd of the incredible success record the organization has acquired in its 99-year history and his intentions of regaining that greatness as the NAACP prepares to celebrate its centennial this February.

"We'll be celebrating the Centennial, but at the same time, we'll be preparing for the future. The future for us will be rich," Jealous promised.

He cited every major goal that has been reached by the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization that took courageous leads in abolishing the lynching of Blacks, desegregating the military, dissolving Jim Crow laws, integrating all societal institutions in the country and contributing to the explosion of Black elected officials. The organization has further been credited with landmark court decisions like Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 and the 1965 Civil Rights Act, organized by renowned figures like Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. DuBois, Walter White and others.

Jealous added how the NAACP has benefited not just Blacks, but the entire country.

"What makes us different from many organizations in this country is our track record for successfully transforming this country for the better; not just for Black people, for some people, but for all people in this country, over and over again," he stated.

Jealous said he will take a focused fundamental approach at identifying the problems and developing strategies with the same methodologies adopted by NAACP's most prominent contributors.

"We'll set that goal and we'll move towards it the same way that (W.E.B.) DuBois, [Ida B.] Wells, Walter White, Roy Wilkins and Thurgood Marshall did."

National board member Bob Lydia noted Jealous' dedication. "He's so dedicated, he's not even taking money to speak outside the NAACP," Lydia said. "You don't find many people who will do that."

Motivational speaker Kemba Smith introduced Jealous at the banquet with a special personal note of gratitude. Her story of getting caught up with a drug-dealing boyfriend that resulted in her being sentenced to 24.5 years in federal prison as a first-time non violent offender made national news in 1996, through a cover story in Emerge Magazine. It was Jealous, who started the dialogue of Smith's case with President Bill Clinton, who granted Smith clemency in 2000.

"Both he and Clinton were Rhodes Scholars. I've never talked to Ben about it, but he played a critical role in my release, because he was one of the first to bring my case directly to the president," Smith said. "Several pieces of legislation were introduced in an attempt to repeal the mandatory sentencing law. Many in the Congress, especially in Virginia, were starting to see my case as a political issue because their constituents were responding to my situation. The U.S. Justice Department turned their back on me."

Education rose as the most sensitive issue Jealous addressed. He spoke of stories about Black students as young as six years old being tasered by school security, the high numbers of Black youth being arrested and an urban elementary and junior high school that has failed to produce a high school graduate in the past 10 years. More importantly, Jealous demanded to the audience, "Where's the outrage?"

There were several other workshops, Law and our Voting Rights, Access to Capital/Corporate Roles and Responsibility, Improving the Legal System/Death Penalty, Hip Hop Music and Its Affect on our culture, Working with the Black Media and The Role of Religion and Civil Rights in Lessening The Impact of Natural Disasters.