Article/Column

Answering "The Call"

by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings

Earlier this month, I was honored to join other Americans of good will as we marked the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.  We did so with the clear understanding that we were rededicating ourselves to a better future for all Americans - even as we celebrated the accomplishments of our past.

The Centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, February 12, 1909, came at a moment in our nation's history when America was still a very dangerous place for African Americans.  Yet, even then, this nation was also the home of Americans motivated by deep personal integrity.

To end the lynchings that then plagued our country, leaders like Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois came together with other progressive leaders in a small New York City apartment.  They formed an organization dedicated to ending racial violence, abolishing forced segregation and promoting equal opportunity under the protection of law.

These 60 prominent Americans, Black and White alike, issued "The Call" for a national conference to renew "the struggle for civil and political liberty" that America's founders had promised and President Lincoln had affirmed.  Their plea to the social conscience of this great nation led to the creation of the NAACP.

My own gratitude for the dedication and perseverance of the organization is personal - as well as philosophical.  The NAACP helped to transform my life.

When I was a child, Ms. Juanita Jackson Mitchell and the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP stood up for us children as we marched, day after day, to integrate South Baltimore's Riverside Swimming Pool.

On those marches, we were attacked and called everything but children of God.  Yet, with the NAACP's protection and support, we succeeded.

It was at that moment that I realized, for the first time in my young life, that I had rights that other people had to respect.  This affirmation of my humanity instilled in me a calling to public service that I follow to this day.

Years later, I was able to fulfill my dream of becoming a lawyer because the NAACP's Thurgood Marshall (who once lived just blocks from where I live today) had convinced a Baltimore judge to integrate the University of Maryland School of Law.

Today, privileged to serve the people of Maryland's 7th Congressional District, I take pride in the fact that our city now serves as the NAACP's national home.

So, on February 12, it was in very personal terms that I joined my colleagues in the House of Representatives to acknowledge our respect for the women and men who have answered the NAACP's "call."

Even as we applauded the organization and its essential contributions to this nation, I remembered that it has always been individual human beings who have stood up to change our lives for the better.

This is not to underestimate the importance of social organization.  Without a movement for change, it is highly unlikely that Brown v. Board of Education, the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the 1965 Voting Rights Act could have been realized.

Yet, I will never forget that the NAACP's Juanita Jackson Mitchell placed her own safety at risk to stand up for some South Baltimore children whom she did not even know – or that Thurgood Marshall traveled and worked in the same precarious, segregated hell as the Americans whom he represented.

The personal courage and sense of dedication that Thurgood Marshall, Juanita Jackson Mitchell and so many others exemplified have been hallmarks of the NAACP for a century.  They have set standards for integrity and competence that continue to challenge every person of conscience today.

I offer this observation at a moment in American history when both the opportunity for constructive change and the obstacles to progress have intensified.   A more progressive President and Congress now struggle to address the devastating consequences of war, social disintegration and the worst economic crisis in decades.

These countervailing forces help to define the dual strategy that the women and men of the NAACP have adopted as the Association begins its second century of work.

"The No. 1 challenge we face is the lack of outrage in this country about how everyday people are treated," the NAACP's President, Benjamin Todd Jealous, observed recently.  ". . . [W]e need to continue to transform this country, not just for black people, but all people."

I agree.

A century after the founding of the NAACP, we have celebrated President Barack Obama's victory of competence and compassion over prejudice.  Yet, we also must stand together to face and overcome the harsh realities of our time.

Sadly, America remains an unfair and perilous place for far too many of our countrymen and women - whatever may be the color of their skin.  That is why we have not yet overcome our need for organizations of integrity like the NAACP.

In this century, as in the last, Americans of conscience must still answer "The Call."

- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.