For a century, the NAACP fought lynch mobs, demanded fairness in schoolhouses and cemented a movement of foot soldiers to wage battles large and small against the indignities of legal discrimination.
As the nation's oldest civil rights group celebrates its centennial, the circumstances might be different but the mission is the same, its president says.
"In black communities across the country, we still see too many young black men killed in the prime of their lives," NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous said yesterday. "No longer is it men hanging from trees, it's men in body bags. Our children now can go to the same schools, but too often it's the same poorly resourced school."
And while the ultimate barrier has been shattered - a black man is president - there is still "a battle for the whole group to be treated fairly," Jealous said.
But as the organization prepares for another 100 years of fighting for equality in the criminal justice system, in education and in the workplace, some of its veterans say it faces new challenges to remain relevant in the Obama age.
"The organization needs to assess its place in history right now," said J. Whyatt Mondesire, an NAACP board member from Philadelphia.
"Understand what it accomplished, what it failed to accomplish and what it needs to do to remain relevant to young people who no longer view discrimination, segregation and racial identity as the primary definition of their lives' opportunities."
In an effort to chart the organization's future, Jealous released a report yesterday mapping the NAACP's priorities in a changing America.
It calls on the Obama administration and Congress to raise funding for education, establish a nine-month moratorium on foreclosure and ensure that billions in stimulus package money is spent fairly.
The report also urges politicians to guarantee fair hiring practices for new jobs, at a time when black unemployment - consistently higher than it is for whites - is in double digits.
Lawmakers should pass legislation that protects black homeowners from predatory lending, Jealous said. Many black borrowers were issued high-cost mortgages, and the organization projects that 10 percent of blacks will be affected by foreclosure.
Jealous says the NAACP needs to act boldly to attract young people by addressing high dropout rates in underfunded schools, racial profiling by police and workplace discrimination, which he said is worse during a recession.
