NAACP Going Hip Hop

July 19th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

The NAACP, or National Association of the Advancement of Colored People, is beginning to focus more on the younger crowds(or hip hop generation). If you notice most of the meetings today are few in number and mostly contain older, gray-haired individuals. Last week, the largest convention in history was held for youngsters — approximately 1,000 young African Americans attended the seminar that was held in Manhattan, New York. There were hopes that the crowd would boost even greater when Obama spoke to the organization. The NAACP is aiming to close the gap between generations of the pre-civil rights movement and post-civil rights movement. The organization would like to fight the age old reincarnation of racial inequities for the young and old today.

Many of the young people that attended the Centennial were eager for the event, but didn’t really hold plans for the future events involving the NAACP. One young lady in particular said that she appreciated what the past generations had done for the Black community, but there was a need to focus on today’s problems, such as teen drop-outs, pregnancy rates, gun violence, STIs and education. More young people today are beginning to take notice and concern for their communities and are looking to take action. The NAACP could take advantage of this by holding more events for the youth. Last year, there was a controversial election held for the NACCP’s next president. The young and old were divided, but eventually the youngest president in the history of the NAACP was chosen — a 30-something year old scholar from Rhodes, named Benjamin Todd Jealous.