TheLoop21.com

I am not affiliated with the NAACP. What follows are my opinions alone.

Jealous is aware of the prevalence of your demographic's sentiment. So is the NAACP Board of Directors.

An expensive marketing campaign using a few celebrities your generation emulates or reveres would likely bring tens of thousands of you into the fold. There's little good marketing campaigns can't do these days. Whoever wants to get more consumers to buy, followers to follow, or potential grassroots volunteers to do the things actual grassroots volunteers do merely needs to build a brand that will do the desired psychological trick, a brand that will "move the crowd" as it were. Ask Tom Burrell. But the NAACP can't afford to spend $50 million to persuade a much larger proportion of your generation to join its ranks. It can't afford to do what it would need to do, marketing-wise, to persuade tens of thousands more of you it's the new old-school cool, or that it's the latest must-follow Twitter account, or that you should sign-up to put in the type of good work you could put in via the local NAACP chapter whether you agree with NAACP's national leadership or not, whether you like its brand or not.

If anyone is able and willing to chop wood and carry water, when the cameras are turned off, when the computers are turned off, when the smart phones are turned off, then there is a NAACP program at a local chapter that will enable him or her to put his or her hours in. The NAACP has the infrastructure necessary to put your generation to work for the communities that desperately need you. A key question we ask when my fraternity brothers and I get together for dinner is does your generation really want to chop wood and carry water?

What would motivate your generation to perform the arduous labors of effective and altruistic activism is very different from what compelled your grandparents and great-grandparents to do it. No one is sure what, if anything, could motivate most of you to tear yourselves away from the internet long enough to roll-up your sleeves long enough to put in some work through any organization. What we do know is that organizations like the NAACP must compete for your generation's interest and time against technologies and trends that did not exist four generations ago. Moreover, thanks to the legal and legislative successes of the previous four generations, a much smaller proportion of your generation is willing to be activists of any sort, especially the sort that chops wood and carries water sans Blackberries and iPhones. So, on one hand, the world has changed in ways that have made your generation more interested in digital activities unrelated to real world activism. On the other hand, the NAACP did such a good job during the last century that there are signs it is working itself out of a job. That the consensus view of the late 30-somethings, 40-somethings, and early 50-something fraternity brothers I have dinner with.

In spite of this, the NAACP will likely continue to maintain a strong enough base to stay relevant and important this century. If it senses too many from its base are leaving, it will choose a new leader. There will be a renewed buzz around the nation about the new leader. There will be blogosphere, Facebook, and Twitter debates about whether the NAACP selected the right leader, whether he will be able to bring younger people into the NAACP (as Jealous was and is expected to do), whether she was the right choice as the NAACP's first African American woman to be selected CEO, and whether the NAACP is still relevant or effective. These dbates will keep us talking about the NAACP. When we talk about it, we will talk about its magnanimous history. Members of the intelligentsia, looking to help us put our dinner conversations, blog conversations, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter exchanges in proper context, will write a few pieces to remind us all of what the NAACP has done. We will recall the ways it transformed our nation. Some of us will agree that two of the biggest reasons why the younger folks aren't as interested in being activists as previous generations are (1) because they are more interested in other, funner things and (2) because the NAACP put in the work last century that made it easy for them to convince themselves they don't need to be half the activists their grandfathers, great-grandfathers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers were.

Your friend,

@DegreedUp

Excellent letter!!! I couldn't agree more. Well done sir!

Well written.n He needs to reflect, stay away from the lights, and return with a refreshing perspective.

He did his job efficiently outing the T Party, although he had his guard down at the end, with the Shirley incident.

It all worked out for the better. Paradoxically, the incident around Shirley opened up more of what Ben was on about, and gave us all a chance to recognize what's important, politics or helping people. She was the hope for all of us, that we could overcome.

The real losers were the ones who initiated and manipulated this entire debacle. They, Breitbart and Faux News will have class action suits for decades. Sounds like Ms Shirley already has one pending.

President Ben Jealous, thank you for your efforts and the next time around you'll be more aware and prepared.

The NAACP has long ceased to be relevant to anything. They keep trying not to step on WHITE FOLKS toes and remain the "go to' folks when the racists in America get too obvious with their Bullsh*t. The Shirley Sherrod screw up exposed them ,so let us hope they will now just go away...

This was just recently submitted to the root. It's an affirmation that we all need to learn but not become bitter from the Sherrod mess:   Is there a leadership problem?  You tell me?  All the  bruhaha from angry bloggers, is being combatted by affirming posts.     Some  responses to Ben Jealous's Sherrod apology, on Facebook, attest to this.     Frank Dixon Graham  I recall you appearing at a racial profiling event for amnesty international in tulsa -- such a terrific gathering. i hope you keep up the fight for social justice!     Denise Howell  I congratulate you on your moving and heart-felt apology to Ms. Sherrod. Your words remind me that it's no crime to make a mistake - it's only a crime to push it off without taking in the lesson. Your humility and grace in this situation only enhance my opinion of you as a leader, and of the NAACP as a group. I am proud to be a member!"      You can attempt to blanket the admiration and gratitude as NAACP worker bees, but it doesn't checkout in my book.  That has been the consensus by a few posts here,  anyone who objects has to be an NAACP zealot. Anti NAACP Argument: in the first post, this man is politically motivated to list any grassroots advocacy for Amnesty Int. (A desperate pitch for support, I think not.) Reality, check it out.  the first post is by some genuinley appreciative white dude, who works with amnesty.        Anti NAACP Argument: the second post comes  from an infatuated adulating NAACP Ben fan, or a NAACP worker bee tired of the  mudslinging.  Reality. Highly doubtful, Detractors descriptions of  "stuttering" tubby  Ben don't exactly make him the suave, sleek, savvy, handsome Obama type with a mega fan base.     That tells me, the positive feedback is just that. REAL. Might be a

Copied from The Root: Copied from The Root:   Is there a leadership problem?  You tell me?  All the  bruhaha from angry bloggers, is being combatted by affirming posts.     Some  responses to Ben Jealous's Sherrod apology, on Facebook, attest to this.     Frank Dixon Graham  I recall you appearing at a racial profiling event for amnesty international in tulsa -- such a terrific gathering. i hope you keep up the fight for social justice!     Denise Howell  I congratulate you on your moving and heart-felt apology to Ms. Sherrod. Your words remind me that it's no crime to make a mistake - it's only a crime to push it off without taking in the lesson. Your humility and grace in this situation only enhance my opinion of you as a leader, and of the NAACP as a group. I am proud to be a member!"      You can attempt to blanket the admiration and gratitude as NAACP worker bees, but it doesn't checkout in my book.  That has been the consensus by a few posts here,  anyone who objects has to be an NAACP zealot. Anti NAACP Argument: in the first post, this man is politically motivated to list any grassroots advocacy for Amnesty Int. (A desperate pitch for support, I think not.) Reality, check it out.  the first post is by some genuinley appreciative white dude, who works with amnesty.        Anti NAACP Argument: the second post comes  from an infatuated adulating NAACP Ben fan, or a NAACP worker bee tired of the  mudslinging.  Reality. Highly doubtful, Detractors descriptions of  "stuttering" tubby  Ben don't exactly make him the suave, sleek, savvy, handsome Obama type with a mega fan base.     That tells me, the positive feedback is just that. REAL. Might be a little pity mixed in, but its more likely  belief in the NAACPs function & relevancy - past, present, and future.