Interesting Quote: Raymond Leon Roker
If the NAACP wants to be a truly inclusive 21st century civil rights organization, it must settle its internal squabbles and officially support same sex marriage. In a year that sees the nation's first black president give a powerful speech on family and social values at the association's 100th anniversary while a Latina woman is about to ascend to the highest court in the land, would any other position make sense? As state after state pushes forward for marriage equality, why should the NAACP act like some backwater province of old ideologies? In an era where the very relevance of a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People seems to be in question, why not show it can -- and should -- still lead the social justice conversation?
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2 comments:
Well said.
I'm absolutely with Roker on principle. Internal squabbles is hardly a justifiable reason; however, people rarely rely on justifiable reasons for many things.
I think we have to accept that there is a wing within the NAACP, much like the Congressional Black Caucus, that is very socially conservative. So that at the national level I'm not surprised that it hasn't been made yet.
I'm not familiar with national organizational politics and structure, but I think one way to put pressure on the national organization would be have the state branches--which tend to be vocal on both ends--publicly make a statement.
Another thing we have to be careful of is the possibility that the majority position now is not supporting marriage equality, so if they were to make a statement it may not be the one we want.
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