As part of the National Press Club’s luncheon speaker series, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous discussed the growth of the NAACP in recent years. In the talk, made the day after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Jealous highlighted key areas in which the organization’s organizing capacity have grown over the last 5 years.
“The NAACP has gotten serious about organizing people nationally in a very powerful way,” stated Jealous, who has been the President of the NAACP since 2008. “We are the largest civil rights organization online, in the field, on mobile and at the ballot box.”
The organization mobilized more than 1.2 million voters during the 2012, election, registering more voters in the field than any other non-political party group. Online, the NAACP universe stands at more than 1.3 million email activists, 423,000 mobile activists, and 280,000 social media supporters.
In addition, Jealous highlighted the history of racial profiling in the United States, which led to national security failures including the assassination of President McKinley, the attempted assassination of President Johnson, and the DC snipers.
“Racial profiling distracts dangerously, so dangerously that if you inject race and ethnicity into a profile that is otherwise based on behavior, blinders go up and people die, even a president of the United States,” stated Jealous.
