So Advance, Already.

I served as the chaplain at my NAACP chapter's annual banquet Saturday night (which simply means I offered prayers of invocation, blessing, and benediction). Due to my service in an African-American church, I am very involved with the NAACP, working on voter registration drives and chairing the Religious Affairs committee. (Hey, I received an award at the banquet! A white minister with an NAACP award. Who'd a thunk it?) The other members assume I am a liberal and I have said nothing to dissuade them of the idea; this, of course, gives me a great deal more currency, so that when I say something positive about the current Administration, they hear it as one of their own, instead of automatically categorizing me as the opposition. (And, truth be told, I'm not always in line with this Administration, myself.)

Anyway. . .the speaker (whose name I will not use) for the banquet is a member of the national leadership. She was quite a good speaker--eloquent at times, colloquial at others; forceful in her passion and kind in her temperament; careful in her study of historical events, although misguided (in my opinion) in her interpretation. But what struck me was how the speech (and the banquet, and my chapter in general) used racism. The speaker told the story of a nearby man who was struck by a car while walking by the road; EMS arrived on the scene and pronounced him dead before providing care. The man was put in a body bag and sent to the morgue, whereupon the coroner examined the body and discovered the man still alive. You guessed it: The victim was black and both EMTs were white. Now the EMTs did not come close to giving Standard of Care. They were grossly negligent in every way. But no evidence exists to suggest they were willfully negligent due to race. The evidence that exists is that they were complete idiots and need to be knocked down to cleaning chamberpots.

But the speaker used this episode to draw lines between the white establishment and the black oppressed. And the incident was discussed in terms of resistance and civil rights. The tone of the thoughts that were offered was of complete struggle. This tone was reinforced today when I received my copy through the post of the NAACP magazine, "The Crisis". I was starting to think that at any minute the Supreme Court was going to revoke universal suffrage, or something. (The victim, by the way, was equally protected by the regulations in place; the morons just didn't abide by said regulations.) Perhaps I am being too harsh, but the idea kept occurring to me as I listened to the speaker and others who offered reflections that the NAACP is still reacting to events as though this is 1967. The NAACP, it seems to me, can't move forward to meet new challenges, because it is structurally and philosophically required to depend on the existence of racial oppression in order to validate its existence and vision. It is hard to completely combat prejudice when some of the leadership depend upon it to survice. The NAACP does many wonderful things; its inclusion of me has been exemplary, for instance. Its support of African-Americans attending college, its fight against the death penalty, and its constant call for reform of the judicial system are all noteworthy. But right now, it is archaic in its organization and focus, in my humble estimation. I hope it reforms itself quickly and begins attending to the problems that are eating at the African-American community like a cancer. I hope that will happen for the good of the NAACP, and for the good of the community in general.

UPDATE: Of course, this would qualify as a new direction.

UPDATE: Jean notes that the EMS thing sounds like an urban myth. Yes, it does. Unfortunately, though, this one is true. Here's one of the local pieces on it.