The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) passed a resolution during its annual convention in July of 2010 condemning the Tea Party Express for allowing "elements of racism" to exist within its movement.
The Tea Party has been up in arms since the passing of the resolution, aggressively defending itself against the assertions made by the NAACP.
Shortly after passing the resolution, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous said that the focus of our national efforts should be centered on "jobs, justice and peace," and that race should not be used as a distraction in lieu of addressing these issues.
Today in our nation, we have armed civilian militias openly patrolling the U.S./Mexico border as a result of strained race relations, ineffective immigration policies, and increased drug trafficking across the border.
We have organizations such as the Aryan Nation, the New Black Panther Party, and a host of smaller loosely knit groups that are not only governed by doctrines that teach and support racial hatred, but groups that are also determined to establish separatist environments within our existing structure of government.
How can we as Americans solely limit our focus to instituting immigration reform, bolstering our economy, creating jobs, administering fair and impartial justice, and securing peace when we as a nation are seemingly incapable of simply bringing ourselves together to work with one another across racial lines?
More importantly, how can we as Americans be proud of the fact that we still live in a time (and in a world) where human beings have to march, protest, struggle and fight to achieve racial equality and secure civil rights from other human beings?
America is experiencing a cultural crisis that is building in strength with each passing day, and our consistent inability to work together across racial lines is directly hindering us from resolving any of our universal issues.
As a result, the division between us grows deeper and deeper.
It seems that during this era of human civilization that we would have naturally come to the conclusion that it would be much easier for us to strengthen our sagging economy, increase our workforce, and ensure equal justice for us all if we took the time to focus on establishing a racially cooperative environment.
We must make it a priority to work together to create a collaborative atmosphere where we educate one another, build relationships, and embrace the constructive elements of our differences - ultimately using these elements to create needed jobs, build our economy, and further strengthen the infrastructure of our government.
If we choose not to make race relations a priority, we run the risk of not reaching our full potential as a nation, and we may be carelessly jeopardizing the success of our future generations.
The NAACP is an organization that works to defend and secure the civil rights of all people. The organization is in the unique position of having established a solid foundation over its 101 year history that could easily be used as a platform to bring all people of all races together on one accord - creating the cooperative environment necessary to facilitate racial harmony, and eliminate the deep cultural, ethnic and economic divisions that exist in our nation.
200 years from now - in the year 2210, if our nation (and our world) still needs organizations like the NAACP to fight for the civil rights of human beings that have been denied to them by the actions of other human beings, we not only fail as individuals; we fail as a civilization.
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