Today’s NAACP Needs a Revival

April 19, 1995, was a glorious day for the Antelope Valley branch of the NAACP. The Antelope Valley Union High School District board voted 4 to 0 to remove a Confederate soldier school mascot from one of its high school campuses, a victory for those who believed the mascot was a symbol of slavery, racism and oppression.

Removing the mascot, after years of trying and being ignored, was a win that should have laid the foundation for future accomplishments by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. It wasn’t. Since that day, the presence of the NAACP in the community has been almost nonexistent. As one Palmdale City Council member states, “They have been missing from the table.” It’s a reality that’s unfolding across this country as white and black supporters alike wonder if the NAACP has outlived its usefulness and perceived strength.

Traditionally bankrolled by large white corporations and by the $20 membership dues of average black folk, the NAACP has managed to amass an impressive list of accomplishments that symbolically freed black people to pursue the American dream. But that was the past. Today the NAACP, on both the national and local levels, is seen as a civil rights dinosaur. In the Antelope Valley, for example, the president went on a non-publicized leave of absence after the mascot issue. From May 1995 to April 1996, there was effectively no one at the helm, even though a few on the 19-member board tried to keep the struggling organization active. But trying to stay active is not the issue. Having an agenda that goes beyond the exploitation of racial issues, coupled with visible and credible leadership and a viable message, is what is critically missing.

There are approximately 400 NAACP members belonging to the Antelope Valley branch, but average attendance at monthly meetings ranges from three to 15 people. There are few if any youth involved with the youth committee because, as one board member admits, “Parents don’t believe the NAACP has anything to offer their children.” While the community is experiencing a number of racially motivated hate crimes, including last week’s stabbing of a 16-year-old black youth by skinheads, many African Americans shy away from working with the NAACP because of its perceived impotency. A post office box and an answering service are the only connection this local branch has with the community. Over the last year, the branch didn’t sponsor any political candidate forums, didn’t host community events, and was curiously absent from meetings held by the L.A. Human Relations Commission on hate crimes. It isn’t surprising that the NAACP’s absence from these meetings surfaced concerns over whether the organization is capable of living up to the community-minded mandates its new national president and chief executive officer, Kweisi Mfume, brags it can and will carry out.

If the performance of this Antelope Valley branch is any indication of what Mfume must face on a national level, then he’d better roll up his sleeves and clean house. Or he’d better think of a way to breathe life into a critically ill patient and advise that a reactive type of leadership must give way to a proactive type of leadership. Absent this, the preeminent civil rights icon will become a footnote in history books, especially Antelope Valley history books.

Maybe the Antelope Valley branch of the NAACP hasn’t heard that these are desperate times for African Americans and that the stakes are too high to play host to incompetence, ineffectiveness and those who prefer to live off past glories. Whether the issue is family values, education, fair treatment by the criminal justice system or economics, the scorecard reflects a D grade at best and an F more often than not. While other ethnic groups are steadily moving to the head of the class, African Americans are steadily falling behind, continuing to whine for extra help, extra credit assignments and preferential treatment when all else fails.

On April 19, 1995, the Antelope Valley branch should have moved from a state of suspended animation to one of action, and members should have refused to settle for mediocrity in its leadership. Mediocrity certainly isn’t the vehicle to deliver a better education to black students, confront the escalating number of hate crimes or encourage residents to believe that the NAACP on local and national levels has any of the needed answers.