“The Age of Being Snookered.”

They were supposed to be the voice against racism and bigotry, the voice of equality for all ethnicities and they were supposed to listen first. They were late, they failed and they were “Snookered.” The NAACP once considered the voice of the voiceless and the voice of equal rights for every American, is now a mere shadow of what it once was.

Once a mighty organization, the NAACP is now a relic that is out of touch with issues that are tearing the Republic apart--racism and bigotry. After more than a year of silence the NAACP finally spoke out against some of the blatant racist rhetoric of the Tea Party and when pressed as to why it took the organization so long to respond, President Ben Jealous explained that the organization’s members meet "Only once a year." What?

If the NAACP according to Mr. Jealous was in fact "Snookered" by Fox News, one could make the case that Fox News put very little effort in "snookering" the NAACP.

To say the NAACP dropped the ball regarding the Sharon Sherrod debacle is the understatement of 2010. Although the NAACP apologized for their rush to judgment at best it is a hollow apology coming from an organization that at its height was a trailblazer for civil rights but today is nothing more than an organization still attempting to adapt to the 21st century.



Anthony P. Johnson