PA State Senator Anthony Williams gives the NAACP the RIPPING it so richly deserves:

The NAACP's mission, as stated in its constitution, is to ensure the political, educational, and socioeconomic equity rights of all people. So its abandonment of children creates a paralyzing moment full of confusion and betrayal.

Failing schools disproportionately occupied by children of color most certainly are NOT equal.

How can the same organization that sent a young, brilliant, future Supreme Court justice by the name of Thurgood Marshall to Washington to eradicate "separate but equal" from the public education system today send its best and brightest to argue for the preservation of schools that continually fail our poorest, most powerless children?

How can the organization that liberated the powerless to speak truth to power today claim victory in a lawsuit that stands in stark contrast to its expressed mission, its constitution, and Justice Marshall's legacy?

How cruel the past 56 years since Brown have been to present this paradoxical moment. The new NAACP, in fighting for failing schools and against the children forced to attend them, in reality fights to preserve the "separate and unequal" reality of today's public education system. I long for the "old" NAACP that abided by Marshall's words:

"I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust . . . We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better."

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NAACP needs to reset sights on education

Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20100801_NAACP_needs_to_reset_sights_on_education.html

 

Anthony Williams is a Democratic state senator from Philadelphia who ran for governor this year on a platform that included universal school choice

I was raised to revere the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a child, I learned of its legendary achievements in fighting against the oppression of the human spirit and removing the barriers of segregation and racial discrimination. The organization's recent involvement in controversies surrounding Shirley Sherrod and the tea party, however, indicates a shift away from its core values. Today, the long-revered civil rights group seems more concerned about public relations, political positioning, and currying interest-group favor than providing a voice to the voiceless. Nowhere is this transformation more evident, or troubling, than in the area of education.