Photo: NAACP Parade against East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917
Recently Obama spoke at The NAACP Centennial Convention. Many contemporary African Americans believe that the civil rights organization is no longer relevant and effective. They feel the organization is obsolete and they no longer can impact and engage the community.
Nevertheless, Obama gave a rousing speech, that at times was challenging, other times evangelistic, and at other times the master teacher. “Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America.” During this speech, Obama was able to address the members of the organization as one of them. He was comfortable at the convention, because implicit in his struggle to become the first African American president, the NAACP has spent 100 years of breaking barriers.
In the speech Obama stated, “These are some of the barriers of our time. They’re very different from the barriers faced by an earlier generations. They’re very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were turned on young marchers. But what’s required to overcome today’s barriers is the same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency.”
It was obvious that Obama has the spirit of the civil rights movement embedded in his conscience. The struggles for human dignity and human rights are fundamental, when the NAACP confronted poverty, crime, racial profiling, and economic discrimination. Obama understands that his success is built on the achievements and shoulders of the pioneers who came before him.
In the speech, Obama painted himself as a solider, which had benefited from the NAACP’s work. Obama cited historical figures from W.E.B. DuBois to Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr, to Emmet Till, to explain how the path to the presidency was cleared by visionaries. Obama knows that he does not live in a vacuum and his greatness is part of the divine plan.
As the NAACP prepares for its second hundred years the plan will have to be adjusted to meet the demands of a new digital and complex society. In order to be effective the organization will be forced to collaborate with advocates and organizations with a similar mission. Nevertheless, with effective leadership the NAACP still has the responsibility to be the conscience of the nation.
Obama is aware that this organization still has an influential role to play in the fabric of American life. Just because we have the first African American president, the work is not done with systematic racism and discrimination.
“I know what can happen to a child who does’t have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child who does. I was raised by a single mom. I don’t come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of troubles as a child. My life could easily have taken a turn for the worse. When I drive through Harlem or I drive through the South Side of Chicago, when I see young men on the corners I say, there but for the grace of God go I.”
Obama has the ability to connect to the grassroots folks. He is a people’s president, and he has the blood of the globe. He is the product of a white mother and an African father. As a brother, he has not forgotten what every African American has to go through each and every day.
Education was the key to unlock his secrets of success. Obama understands that the American educational system is broken, and needs a complete overhaul for all students. He wants more students to find new role models and aspire to be Supreme Court justices, engineers, doctors, teachers, and not just rappers, and sports stars.
For Obama to talk about rappers and ballers in an official speech is characteristic of a president who can relate to the present generation. He has the connection and the power to get the ear of the present generation. The major question is, “Can the NAACP retool and revise its programs to make them relevant to the problems of this generation.”
The door is open with a myriad of problems, and all the organization has to do is walk through the door with solutions.
