New Attitude Pervades Naacp
Once a convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was held in a downtown Chicago hotel where I was staying overnight. I shared the elevators, lobby and restaurant with handsomely attired men and beautifully dressed women. There may have been some unemployed, poor and discriminated-against people attending the convention, but I didn’t see any. Every delegate appeared to be prosperous and not in need of a federal program to better their lot in life.
The newspaper the next morning reported there had been plenty of talk about affirmative action, quotas and set-asides as necessary to advance black people.
At the NAACP convention in New York City last week, the group’s newest leader, former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, signaled a possible subtle shift in the organization’s traditional approach to civil rights. “We must find ways to do for self,” he told the approximately 200 delegates. Mfume is opposed by some members who think the way to go is to continue verbal assaults against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and any other black who does not toe the liberal line that only government can redeem black people.
Mfume said solutions to many of the problems facing blacks are beyond the reach of government.
That’s what Green Bay Packer all-pro defensive end Reggie White thinks, too. Instead of offering more guilt for whites and demanding more reparations from government for past injustices, White thinks it’s time to prescribe hope. He’s bringing his program called Urban Hope to Green Bay after a test run in Knoxville, Tenn.
Unlike many government programs, which are burdened by costly bureaucracy, Urban Hope targets directly those in greatest need. It counsels low-income residents on how to manage their money, start small businesses and buy homes. Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson has asked the state legislature to appropriate $100,000 a year for the next three years, money that will be matched by private donors, to start new businesses and provide housing assistance. Thompson hopes the program will be self-sustaining after that.
In Knoxville, Urban Hope helped save 150 jobs, removed 10 mothers from welfare and promoted home ownership and the creation of new businesses. White and his wife have pledged $50,000 of their own money against defaults on home loans. In Knoxville, White says, no loan made under the auspices of Urban Hope has ever defaulted.
Wisconsin state Rep. Carol Kelso, a Republican from Green Bay, is a strong backer of the program. “We went to the people - not government - to find the answer (to poverty),” she told me. “Government is finally realizing what the citizens have known all along. Americans have always answered the call when we need to help our neighbors. When government began to try to be everything to everyone, many of us forgot that fundamental social responsibility. Now, you see a resurgence all across our great state of neighbors - neighbors who live next door and neighbors who own the local restaurant or supermarket - coming together to take care of our society’s social problems.”
Green Bay community leaders, including banks, will teach those wanting to lift themselves out of poverty how to succeed. In turn, those in poverty will teach the leaders about the unique obstacles to be overcome.
Kelso acknowledged the “serious and growing wage gap in America,” but added, “The answer to closing that gap is not to redistribute income through higher taxes, but to encourage individual achievement and provide the tools for them to climb the economic ladder.”
The National Football League is interested in the project as a way to help other players become involved in communities and serve as examples. If it works in Green Bay, White wants to try it in Milwaukee, where the problems and the poor are more numerous.
What White and even Mfume seem to be saying is that the age of the perpetual victim is coming to an end, as is the strategy of loading whites down with more guilt and demanding more money. Cooperation instead of confrontation is a far better strategy for advancing “colored” people. And hope is a far better tactic than anger and hate.
Keep an eye on Reggie White and Kweisi Mfume. A meeting of minds, followed by a melting of hearts and genuine progress for the poor and race relations, may be coming soon.