Warning: This post includes very graphic and
very disturbing historical images.
The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) has been in the news recently; 1st because of their resolution against the racist elements of the "Tea Party", and secondly because of their handling of the Shirley Sherrod incident (click the link to view the full unedited speech by Mrs. Sherrod).
Some people have claimed that the NAACP is no longer "relevant"; others try to make the NAACP the perpetrators of racism, rather than the organization which has been fighting racism in all forms for one hundred years. The NAACP evolved from the Niagara Movement, founded in 1905 by Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois and composed of a multi-racial group of professionals and scholars to alert the American public to the pervasive racism at the time. In 1910, Dr. DuBois also co-founded the NAACP to fight the racist activities suffered by African-Americans and other people of color in the United States and elsewhere in the world. (Hence the name "colored people"...all people of color.)
The most outward manifestation of overt racism against Black people in America, particularly Black men, was lynching. Black men (and in lesser numbers, men of other races who were deemed "nigger-lovers") were lynched by the thousands from the 1860s through the 1950s. Black men were hung from trees, utility poles, gallows and bridges for the smallest infractions; usually without trial or any type of constituionally guaranteed due process. Often, these lynchings were treated by "white society" as parties or family picnics. Often "wish you were here" postcards featuring pictures of the lynched men were sent to non-attending family and friends.
Were these men not human?
Was the NAACP being "racist" for attempting to eradicate this inhuman practice and many others that made all people of color second-class citizens in their own country? Is the NAACP the racists here, or maybe some of those who want to "take their country back"? Back to what? The "good old days"? Good for whom? Not most colored people.
These photographs and more are available at the Without Sanctuary website.
This is a remarkable reminder of what can happen if we don't squash racism in its tracks. We like to think lynching is a relic of the past ... but, then we hear about Black people being dragged to death by ropes ... not much difference.
ReplyDeletepeace, Villager
Thank you, Villager. We must never forget and NEVER go back.
ReplyDeleteRacism is enjoying a social acceptance that has not been seen in the last 40 years. When a white Congressman calls President Obama a liar during the State of the Union and he is not severely censured, we know that racism is alive. When you see the racially explicit political signs carried by Tea Party protesters depicting Obama in all kinds of subhuman ways, you know racism is alive.
ReplyDeleteThe number of death threats this president receives daily is staggering. Yet the Secret Service has had several "slips" in ensuring Barack Obama's safety. Had such happened to other presidents, there would have been immediate firings. Yet there's been no public announcements of Secret Service dismissals for negligence or incompetence.
All of these things remind us that RACISM IS ALIVE and the NAACP has a relevant mission to continue.
Pam, thanks for this reminder!