NAACP president speaks to OU

by Kim Smith
Senior Culture Writer

Comparisons involving religion, race and sexual preference always have been a part of human existence, but the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People spoke about looking past these issues and seeking the truth about humanity last night at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

“We know, in its purest form, truth will never be a polite tap on the shoulder — it will always be a howling remorse,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said.

Mfume spoke on the topic “Our Children, Our Future” to a full house. He covered the work of the NAACP and the barriers that continue to exist.

“You must stand up and speak out for what is wrong,” he said. “And fight for what is right.”

Elected by a unanimous decision, Mfume became president and chief executive officer of the NAACP in 1996, said Lon Walls, president and CEO of Walls Communications, who introduced Mfume.

“It has been with the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, that Kweisi Mfume has truly found his calling as one of America’s most influential leaders in this new millennium,” Walls said.

With more than 1,700 branches of the NAACP around the nation and world, the organization has perpetuated knowledge about more than just African Americans, Mfume said.

“We’re the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” he said. “We believe colored people come in all colors.”

During the past few years, the gap between classes also has grown, Mfume said.

Vulnerability and uncertainty prevailed after Sept. 11, but it forced the world to be more aware of life, Mfume said.

“I think we got left behind deliberately so that we could focus on the finite aspects of life and ask ourselves as Americans if it really makes sense to discriminate,” he said. “Does it really make sense to treat people differently?”

Mfume travels to more than 80 venues per year to speak and learn about civil rights issues. But talking to students can make the most difference.

“Lon told me that if I ever got to this campus, to just come to Athens because there they will understand you,” he said. “And they will allow you a moment of reaffirmation and the great students there will embrace you and they will join you in this moment of reaffirmation.”

It is important for intellectual presentations to be brought to the Ohio University campus, writer Justice B. Hill said.

“He spoke about universal issues for the most part,” Hill said. “Ideas are the essence of learning, and we should expect to hear speakers of this magnitude at institutions of higher learning.”

Because of the educated and intellectual focus of the discussion, the speech was more enjoyable, said Megan Katzfey, an OU sophomore journalism student.

“He was a fantastic speaker who focused on valid issues,” she said.

Before becoming the head of the NAACP, Mfume was faced with issues as a congressman for Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, Walls said. He held a seat for 10 years, serving on the banking and financial services committee and the general oversight committee.