Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

It’s about the solutions

The resignation of Bruce S. Gordon after only 19 months at the helm of the NAACP sent shock waves across America. The official explanation for Gordon’s departure is that he had a conflict with the management style imposed by a 64-member board. However, the problem is much deeper than that. There is a profound philosophical difference between Gordon and the traditional civil rights activists.

As the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP was in the forefront of the campaign to end racial discrimination in employment, places of public accommodation and education. The battle to provide blacks the right to vote without fear of violence was also a prime objective. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the NAACP achieved its goal of changing the laws.

Despite the enormous advancements in the more than 40 years since those laws were passed, NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond is reluctant to change the focus of the organization. The New York Times reported that Bond said, “We want to be a social justice organization; he [Gordon] wanted it to be more of a social service organization. Our mission is to fight racial discrimination and provide social justice. Social service organizations deal with the effects of racial discrimination. We deal with the beast itself.”

Gordon’s point of view is best expressed in his remarks at the 97th NAACP convention after he had been president for one year. He said, “I am not here today to wallow in my or our misery. My mission is not to spend the morning quantifying and qualifying the problems we face … We know the problems, we know the statistics.”

Gordon continued, “It is now time for us to direct our attention to the solutions. Our communities will not be satisfied if all we do is communicate to them we know what their problems are. What they want to know is what we intend to do about it.” He stated further, “I’m not here to talk victim-like thinking. My focus is to get our attention on our power.”

In a statement directly at odds with Bond’s perspective, Gordon said at the convention, “I will not stand before you and blame others for our condition. My intention is to confirm that we have the ability to take control of our lives, our communities, our fortunes and our futures. We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need. All we have to do is believe it and use it. That’s all it takes.”

Bond’s position is that the NAACP should “stay the course.” Bond would apparently absolve blacks from personal responsibility until all the remaining vestiges of racial discrimination have been eliminated. According to Bond’s view, the NAACP will object obstreperously to every act of discrimination brought to its attention but will leave to others the development of strategies to help take advantage of existing opportunities.

Sadly, the Julian Bond approach is more harmful than helpful. At a time when African Americans should focus on personal development, the NAACP’s constant screed about racism creates the erroneous impression among blacks that they are perpetual victims. People who think that they are victims cannot simultaneously feel powerful.

Gordon’s business acumen enabled him to analyze accurately what the NAACP could do to serve the black community and regain the organization’s waning status. He clearly understood that if the NAACP is “not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.” Gordon’s resignation forces African Americans to take the time to consider which philosophy the NAACP should pursue in the future. It would be unwise to support Julian Bond’s romantic embrace of a bygone civil rights era.

Headline2

“The Old Guard is mired in the
anti-discrimination strategy
of the 1950s and 1960s.”