NAACP steps out of political shadow

The NAACP held its state meeting last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Tallahassee. Amongst other things, leaders reaffirmed their commitment to influence Republican legislators in the state.

Charles Evans, head of the Tallahassee NAACP, said, “We know we need to work with the Republicans, but we don’t have high hopes.”

Chairman of the Black Republican Caucus of Palm Beach County Andre Cadogan, who did not attend the conference, said that the NAACP would have to refrain from partisan politics if it hopes to influence Republican governance. Cadogan also said that it would be hard for the organization to have influence in a Republican-run state capital while it was also organizing mass protests, filing lawsuits and regularly bashing the Bush family.

Apparently, if the NAACP is good, keeps its mouth shut, and doesn’t align itself with the party of its choice, it will be allowed to discuss the possibility of change with Republican leaders.

That is awfully nice of them. We wonder if Frederick Douglass was not so outspoken, would slavery have been abolished? If Robert Abbott had not published the Chicago Defender, would blacks ever have escaped the hate-filled South? If Martin Luther King Jr. had not led his marches, would the civil rights movement ever have taken place?

Change comes about by recognizing problems and offering solutions. Perhaps if Republican leaders addressed these problems and their proposed solutions, there would be no need to publicly rally support for them.