At 100, NAACP Shifts Focus From Rights To Justice [podcast 4 min 24 sec]
President Obama told the NAACP on the group's 100th anniversary Thursday that there was no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than education.
Obama, the nation's first black president, also told the nation's oldest civil rights group that his own political rise was made possible by civil rights leaders.
In the Obama era, Wright says, African-Americans may be able to declare victory in their fight for rights, but when it comes to opportunity, there is still much to be done.
"When you look at the fact that a quarter of the African-Americans live in poverty ... it's very clear that race continues to overlap deeply with class, and so it remains relevant," he says. "But the question is how do we get everybody, black people included, willing to talk about the fact that [race] remains relevant?"
That, Wright says, could be the job of the NAACP.
"The conversation about whether the NAACP is relevant," he says, "is a proxy for the conversation about whether race is relevant."
Read entire article at NPR All Things Considered
Obama, the nation's first black president, also told the nation's oldest civil rights group that his own political rise was made possible by civil rights leaders.
In the Obama era, Wright says, African-Americans may be able to declare victory in their fight for rights, but when it comes to opportunity, there is still much to be done.
"When you look at the fact that a quarter of the African-Americans live in poverty ... it's very clear that race continues to overlap deeply with class, and so it remains relevant," he says. "But the question is how do we get everybody, black people included, willing to talk about the fact that [race] remains relevant?"
That, Wright says, could be the job of the NAACP.
"The conversation about whether the NAACP is relevant," he says, "is a proxy for the conversation about whether race is relevant."