Free Blog #2: The NAACP

Today, a member of the Oklahoma Chapter of the NAACP is coming to speak to our class. I am very excited and interested to hear what he/she has to say. I do not know much about the NAACP. I have learned more since I have been in this class, such as how the organization originated and when, but I am excited to learn more about what they do. While I was browsing through their website, I found the mission statement of the organization. “The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination”. Growing up where I did, many of the things that I did hear about the NAACP were negative. It was usually in the form of a joke. The jist of the jokes were usually that the organization is against Caucasian people. Though I do not know much about the works of the organization yet, their mission statement certainly doesn’t reflect this idea. Their vision is the same vision that I have. It is the ideal for what we should be striving towards. Can you imagine if we lived in a place like they describe? Racial relations have improved immensely over the years, but there is still room for improvement. I think that education is the key. If people open their minds and look past the stereotypes they have been inundated with, they would probably see that we’re all more alike than they think we are. There are certainly cultural differences, but we are all humans. Anyway, I am eager to see our speaker today. I would be interested to know not just about the history of the NAACP, but also what they are still doing today to further their cause.