By Darren Mcvey
On April 4, Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, will be speaking on Belknap Campus. Mr. Bond has accomplished amazing feats in his life and career. As a student at Morehouse College in the early sixties, he founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and led student protest racial inequity.
In 1965, he was elected to the Georgia State House of Representatives, but was challenged due to his outspoken opposition to the Viet Nam War.
Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court would rule 9-0 that his opponents were violating his freedom of speech, allowing him to sit in the House.
In 1968, Julian Bond was nominated the Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate, but was too young to serve and had to withdraw. Bond deserves respect and admiration for his bravery and success, but he and his organization are not beyond accountability.
NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but the organization reserves the right to define “colored people” how they see fit. It is no longer interested in the advancement of all colored people; the NAACP is only interested in the advancement of racial politics and African-American dependence.
The treatment of Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and other prominent conservative black leaders by the NAACP is disgusting. These individuals are black people that choose to not follow the “civil rights” establishment.
In speaking their minds, they subject themselves to name-calling, ridicule, and public embarrassment. Julian Bond, himself, accuses Rice and Powell of being pawns in a race game for the “American Taliban,” namely, the Bush Administration.
Honestly, when I hear NAACP, I think of the Republican Party. American history is littered with the GOP’s contributions to the African-American community. The party was founded to abolish slavery.
Nearly all black elected officials were Republicans during reconstruction. Republicans made the Civil Rights Act of 1957 possible.
And in the modern era, Republicans can boast about the first black senator Ed Brooke, first black Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the first black female Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Even Jackie Robinson was a Republican.
The NAACP does not care about conservative blacks because they undermine the message of helplessness and victimization that Bond peddles. People like Condi, Colin and Clarence prove that young black men and women don’t have to be rappers or basketball players to be successful.
They are living examples that, even if the white man is trying to hold you down, he can’t do it if you don’t let him.
Black society should embrace these leaders along with people like Bill Cosby and his message of values and responsibility and Morgan Freeman who advocates we all “stop talking about race.”
There is individual racism in America today, but the United States is the least racist society in the world.
But that message doesn’t work with the NAACP’s platform, so it’s ignorant. In reality, anyone can succeed in America.
Rush Limbaugh calls the NAACP the National Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People, but that’s not quite accurate.
The NAACP is really the National Association for the Victimization of Colored People.
Darren McVey is a junior majoring in political science. E-mail him at opinion@louisvillecardinal.com.
