@NAACP #race
Recently, Michael Teasley, a mid-30s political science major was elected president of Jackson State University NAACP chapter.  Teasley served as 2nd vice president in 2008-09 and 2009-10 before being elected by the 60-plus- member chapter last spring as president for the 2010-11 term.  But it wasn’t any of his credentials that has people debating.  Its his skin color.  Teasley is a white man.

Is it a sign of the times?  Perhaps its a move of desperation on the part of NAACP chapters to gain notoriety and publicity?  Or does it just plain make sense.

State President of the Mississippi NAACP, Derrick Johnson, NAACP state president, said the election illustrates and reinforces that the organizations mission is to represent more than one race.

“This is a great opportunity for people to see that our organization is not about one race. Many people forget that white people helped organize the NAACP (in 1909),” Johnson told The Clarion-Ledger. “But I think Michael’s acceptance within the organization shows we practice what we preach — that no person should be discriminated against because of race.”

So what has driven the divorced father to aspire for this position that would almost seem without motivation.  Teasley says its quite the contrary.  He remembers when he was 8 his father declined an invitation to his grandparents’ house for dinner.

“And I knew why,” Teasley said. “I had a black friend named Leonard in the car with me. My grandparents were very much into segregation and didn’t allow black people into their home. We didn’t stay and eat because they would’ve never accepted Leonard. That sparked something inside of me.”

That fire burned within him until it was reinforced upon enrolling at Jackson State in 2007.   Teasley was invited to an NAACP campus meeting. Teasley joined and agreed to participate in voter registration that week at JSU’s home football game in advance of the Presidential election.   Teasley said he helped an elderly man selling T-shirts to register to vote. The man couldn’t read or write.

“The day President Obama won, the man called me. He said, ‘Voting is something I’ve always wanted to do.’ He was ecstatic that he had helped put Obama in office,” Teasley said. “That is when I decided I was going to be fully committed to the NAACP and not worry about stigmas or what anybody was saying, including my family.”

Among other issues Teasley plans to address he aspires to lead a movement to change the Mississippi state flag, which includes the confederate flag used during the Civil war.

“It’s offensive to a lot of people,” he said. “It has to go.

It sounds like Teasley has a quality foundation.  But should an organization like the NAACP have white leadership even at the Collegiate Chapter level?  I would certainly doubt that the Klu Klux Klan would ever welcome a black man let alone have one at its head even if he’s Uncle Ruckus or Clayton Bigsby.  Naturally those are fictitious examples and the KKK is seemingly fueled by hate instead of “advancement.”  But what really does this movement point to?  Is it a referendum on the organization’s need within society with a lack of quality prospects to lead?  Is it an indication of a paradigm shift within philosophy post-Obama?  Speaking of Obama, has his election officially ended the civil rights movement putting organizations like the NAACP out to pasture?  SOUND OFF!