Is the NAACP A Fair Representation of the African-American Community?
Last Saturday, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) officially came out and declared their support for same-sex marriage. According to USA Today, the organization now sees the issue as comparable to civil rights.
Ironically, this stance fails to comport with a large sector of the African-American population. Roughly 62% of blacks are against same-sex marriage, according to a Pew Research poll conducted in October 2011. This is not alarming news, as it was clear that blacks are in favor of traditional marriage which was evident in the 2008 passage of Proposition 8, which banned same sex marriage in the state of California, which African-Americans supported overwhelmingly.
The timing of the NAACP’s support for same-sex marriage is undeniably alarming and perplexing. It follows President Obama’s public endorsement of the issue on May 9th. The underlining tone from the NAACP is pretty clear and doesn’t need much deciphering: Get behind President Obama. It’s quite that simple. The NAACP, which is supposed to be a non-partisan organization, has betrayed the principles that matter so dearly to the black community to join forces with President Obama’s secular agenda.
While it is not surprising to see the NAACP applaud the efforts of the nation’s first African-American president, it is irresponsible of them to put a divisive political issue ahead of what truly is affecting the black community—high unemployment rate, a weak economy and lack of jobs.
Also, their call for racial harmony has been questioned by many due to their hypocritical and impeccable acts at times. In 2006, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond compared the GOP to Nazis and compared judicial nominees of then-President George W. Bush to the Taliban. Not only did this cause a strain with the administration, but it temporarily but race-relations on hold. It is this divisive and toxic rhetoric that compels many to not take the NAACP’s agenda seriously.
If the NAACP wants to advance an agenda that parallels President Obama’s policies, I would encourage them to engage in discussions of how jobs can be available in the black community. The current deficit, debt and fragile economy will impact the black community more directly than same-sex marriage. The fact that many recent college graduates are facing difficulty finding jobs takes precedent among many blacks before the debate over marriage.
Has the NAACP challenged the president over the high unemployment rate among African-Americans? In April, blacks saw a troubling 13% rate in unemployment. To not engage the first black president about these depressing numbers does not do justice to the black community.
The NAACP, if it desires to regain its historic status as a valid and vigorous voice for the advancement of African-Americans, must engage in discussion and advocate for policy that will help blacks compete in today’s economy, and must also be willing to respect the views of African-Americans without aligning itself to the partisan tactics of politics today.
The NAACP thinks it’s okay for same sex marrage and that it’s comparible to “civil rights”. Really? Since when did homo’s become a new race of people? When did they become a new species? And critisizing so-called “gays” can’t be called being bigoted, or descriminatory because in order to be making racist or bigoted statements you have to be critisizing a separate “race” other than yourself. This is not possible unless there were only one kind of gay and they were Black if you were White. And since most gays are White and it’s White people who are critisizing them it’s not a bigoted or racist statement to say they are wrong in their position on same sex marrage.
And since most Blacks are strongly Christian this NAACP representative can’t be speaking for them, and they have already met with Obama and they told him they do NOT support his position on gay marrage. And besides that everybody knows the NAACP is turning Communist so they don’t count when it comes to anything American. Their opinion doesn’t count, they’re unAmerican and are against our culture. And the American culture has always been anti-gay!
THEY GOT THEIR ORDERS FROM THE TOP MAN?
WillofLA,
I see you’re still in LA-LA land. Racism is ONLY white versus black? Really? Are you stuck in the 50’s and 60’s again? Racism is applied to any race, when someone from that race hates anyone from a different race. There is white on black as well as black on white racism. Do you not understand that?
You also mentioned that most gays are white. Really? Where did you get that information? You are truly showing your ignorance of the issue if you really believe that. You also need to look up the word ‘bigoted,’ as you obviously mis-spoke in your earlier comment. I do agree that it is NOT racist to hold a negative view of homosexuals, as they belong to numerous races.
That being said, I agree with your primary argument that the NAACP is showing its colors by siding with the Marxist we currently “enjoy” as our President. Maybe if people weren’t scared of being called “racist” by not voting for Obama due to his skin color we would have avoided this mistake of a president.