NAACP Abandons Black Community
We're pissed. The NAACP is soon to seal the deal on its plans to relocate from Northwest Baltimore to Southeast Washington, DC, The Washington Business Journal reported this morning.
The NAACP has called Baltimore home since 1986, when the leading civil rights organization left New York City. But under Bruce Gordan's leadership, the group decided to move inside the nation's capital.
They claim they want to be in DC because that's where they action is. But that doesn't make any sense. In the technology age, an organization can be just as effective in national affairs from Washington state as they can be in Washington, DC. Many influential organizations, from the ACLU in New York to the Sierra Club in San Francisco, headquarter in other cities while maintaining smaller legislative offices in the District. And besides, Northwest Baltimore is only an hour and a half from Anacostia, the neighborhood where they plan to go. If one member of The League can commute from Baltimore to Washington five days a week, surely Bruce Gordon can make the trip whenever he happens to have an event scheduled down there.
Now that we understand there is no legitimate reason for the relocation, we can see it for what it is: an insult to Baltimore.
"We are sending, I think, a very positive message to the people of Anacostia, that we want to be there with them," Gordon told The Sun.
So what, then, is the message the NAACP is sending to the people of Baltimore? That they don't want to be here with us? That our black community (a larger percentage of a larger city) isn't as important as DC's? That the urban problems facing Baltimore don't deserve the same attention as those faced by Washington?
The NAACP is sending a message, alright: that it cares more about the prestige of a location inside the beltway than about the black community.
from The League: Reassembled
The NAACP has called Baltimore home since 1986, when the leading civil rights organization left New York City. But under Bruce Gordan's leadership, the group decided to move inside the nation's capital.
They claim they want to be in DC because that's where they action is. But that doesn't make any sense. In the technology age, an organization can be just as effective in national affairs from Washington state as they can be in Washington, DC. Many influential organizations, from the ACLU in New York to the Sierra Club in San Francisco, headquarter in other cities while maintaining smaller legislative offices in the District. And besides, Northwest Baltimore is only an hour and a half from Anacostia, the neighborhood where they plan to go. If one member of The League can commute from Baltimore to Washington five days a week, surely Bruce Gordon can make the trip whenever he happens to have an event scheduled down there.
Now that we understand there is no legitimate reason for the relocation, we can see it for what it is: an insult to Baltimore.
"We are sending, I think, a very positive message to the people of Anacostia, that we want to be there with them," Gordon told The Sun.
So what, then, is the message the NAACP is sending to the people of Baltimore? That they don't want to be here with us? That our black community (a larger percentage of a larger city) isn't as important as DC's? That the urban problems facing Baltimore don't deserve the same attention as those faced by Washington?
The NAACP is sending a message, alright: that it cares more about the prestige of a location inside the beltway than about the black community.
from The League: Reassembled
posted by The League: Reassembled at 2:40 PM
2 Comments:
Anacostia isn't exactly a prestigious location. I think this post is over the top.
I agree with politcalhack 100%. Simply leaving the city in no way signifies a change in the mission of NAACP.
It is the city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland which has really "abandoned the Black community." Political posturing with our public schools, development that benefits the rich and gentrifies the city, and a tired political machine that continues to drown out alternative voices in the Black community are examples of "abandoning the Black community".
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