Dissention In the Ranks

A little over a week ago it was reported that Kweisi Mfume was retiring as head of the NAACP to spend more time with his family. I remember thinking to myself, "what happened", simply because the reason given didn't make sense. Also I have always believed that power is rarely given up voluntarily, it must be given a time frame to be wielded or wrenched from the wielder, sometimes from the dead cold hands hands of the wielder. Mr Mfume is very much alive and it is reported that he ran afoul of Julian Bond. It seems Mr. Mfume wanted to reach out to a Republican President concerning issues that were agreeable.
Mr. Mfume reasoned that putting the whole black voting egg in one basket was marginalizing black voting power--Dayum, Mr. Mfume was finally starting to see the light. Too bad the light he saw at the end of the tunnel was a freight train named Julian Bond. Here is the short and skinny- Mr. Mfume reached out against Julian Bond's wishes and now he has time to spend with his family.
It's a well known fact among friends, relatives, and whoever listens to me, that Iam no fan of the NAACP in it's current form: a organization that is forced to get most of it's funding from blackmailing corporations: a organization that will not allow non liberals within it's ranks: a organization that lost it's way and vision so badly that the very people they fought for in the past will no longer support it in numbers enough finacially to make the corporate shakedown unnecessary. I respect and revere the NAACP of the past: the organization that stood for what it was named-the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. That's right colored people, people of color.
So what happened? Or should I tell you what didn't happen, it would be quicker. What didn't happen was at some point the NAACP didn't realize that it had won the Civil Rights war on the judiciary level. No longer would discriminatory laws be the order of the day, no longer would the discrimination be allowed to be practiced in the work place openly and without consequences. Did the NAACP stop discrimation, bigotry, prejudice. No, those human shortcoming will forever be around -in all people. What it did was give people of color the courts to address those shortcomings, and guess what, that's about all you can to in the real world. And it worked, That's What the NAACP didn't get and still doesn't get. So it's a dayum shame that I have to salute Mr. Mfume under these conditions. I would have loved to salute him as the leader of the NAACP leading that once great organization in a bold new direction.
Mr. Mfume, I've rode your ass hard and long during your tenure as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, I salute you for daring to break ranks, for daring to see truth, and for paying the price for making your stand. Mr. Mfume, you have truly joined the ranks of the great civil rights leaders. Take Care, and drive on.