I didn’t need to look at the clock on my wall to know what time it was after reading the headline: “Russell Simmons Eyed as New NAACP Prez.”
Even though the whole matter seems to be a bunch of media hype, a response still needs to be thrown out there.
Mine just happens to be, are you serious?
In an attempt to attract more black youth, a few NAACP leaders have named the hip-hop mogul as a potential figurehead, for the role of pied piper.
I guess they figured if he had the pull to push a few thousand newly registered voters into last year’s polling booths, he’s bound to do the same for the NAACP.
If that’s all it takes to become president of the oldest civil rights organization in the country, the whole lot is delusional.
To prop up a hip-hop millionaire before the black community’s youth to become more “in touch” with them is nauseating.
How can a black man who capitalizes off the culture of poor blacks, owns a house in the Hamptons and marries an Asian supermodel legitimately engage these kids in the complexities of cultural terrorism?
He can’t.
At best, Russell Simmons is just like anyone else already on the NAACP board-paid in full and disconnected.
So why would they even think about employing a man of the same socioeconomic status to reach a demographic whose parents they haven’t even been able to communicate with in the past decades?
Moreover, Simmons’ political agitation to date has been relatively shaky.
When he called out Pepsi-Cola for unjustly dropping Ludacris from its advertising campaign, the billion-dollar corporation got off scot-free.
The settlement only asked for a measly $5 million in retribution.
While talks about pulling Slim Shady’s ghetto pass heightened after a tape of the rapper dissing black women surfaced, Simmons came to his defense a little too quickly.
And with many grassroots activists advocating for the repeal of New York’s harsh drug sentencing laws, Simmons took it upon himself to undo their hard work by lobbying for adjustments that resulted in cosmetic changes.
When asked about his actions in a Newsday article, Simmons said, “I’m not running for anything… I did what I thought was right.”
Not even Al Sharpton can reach this low.
In that respect, a self-admission has to be made.
Black activism has been castrated, flushed down the pipes of co-option and dumped into the septic tanks of worthlessness.
Monica Harden is a magazine production senior from Hockley, Texas. She can be reached at mharden82@aol.com.