So The NAACP Is Supporting Rachel Dolezal And Her Fuckery?

by

I receive email updates from my local NAACP branch and today I receive a surprising copy of a letter to the editor of the Sacramento Bee from Alice Huffman, President of the California NAACP, in regard to Rachel Dolezal’s appropriation of our race and culture.  Read on…

Dear Editor:

Erika Smith’s opening lines in today’s paper, “Part of me hoped that Rachel Dolezal would just go away,” elicited the opposite reaction from me about the  controversial  NAACP Spokane Branch leader.  I hoped Dolezal would have continued her leadership.  Unless there are other deeper “legal” issues of integrity, which no one has called out, I think this was news just because she, “a white woman,” by society standards headed up an NAACP unit,  while defining herself as Black. 

 As one who holds a degree from Berkeley in social, cultural anthropology, we learned that if you put the entire universe of humanity on a continuum, no one can tell where one race begins and another one ends, thus race is self-identified.

Most NAACP members know that this great organization that has served America for 106 years was founded by white, caring leaders and W.E. B. Du Bois.

 The Quakers who provided safety for runaway slaves were probably heavily criticized during their time, especially since they were the first to recognize us as full citizens with full human rights in America and fought for justice until we were freed.

African Americans have -by design to contain rebellions since slavery days- always been a smaller number of people in this country.  So where would we be without white allies?

Some questioned Lincoln’s intentions.  I say “he freed us.”  That’s all that matters.  Others questioned Mrs. Roosevelt, JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, but they were leaders of conscious who cared about equal rights.

There are so many white unsung heroes and sheroes that work on our behalf at all levels of government because they know it is the right thing to do.  Even in 2006 when we won the renewal of the voting rights act before the Supreme Court gutted it, all of the members of congress voted for it.

As the NAACP National Region 1 Director, that includes, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, North Dakota, Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii, we welcome everyone who wants to help us carry out a social justice agenda. We need  all who are willing to help us as we fight for justice in the criminal justice system that has a thriving “industrial complex” because of the disproportionate number of African Americans and Latinos incarcerated due to the failed drug policy.  We need all who are willing to help us to improve failing urban schools and to find employment for the multitude of minority jobless men, women and children.

America has a love hate relationship with race as well as with its longest most prestigious world renowned civil rights organization, the NAACP.   Most of the time the media charges us with “missing in action” until a story comes along like California supporting ‘same sex marriage” (is this a civil rights issue they asked), or “Yes on prop 19” to regulate marijuana.  (We were accused of wanting our kids to go to school “high” and they ignored the mass incarceration that has practically destroyed our male population.) Or they focus on some stupid story i.e. Don Sterling, that became a national sensational issue because of a bad local leader.

Spokane’s story should be a wake-up call to bright thoughtful  leaders like Erika Smith, Rachel Dolezal and others to roll up their sleeves, take the social construct of race off the table, as it can be a barrier, and join forces in America for justice for all.  We need everyone who cares.

Alice A. Huffman, President
CA-HI NAACP State Conference
NAACP National Board Member

by