35 Year Old Tapped to Head NAACP

This is cool:

The NAACP has chosen Ben Jealous as its new president after a contentious debate that lasted long into the night, members of its board of directors said Saturday.

Jealous, 35, will be the youngest president in the NAACP's 99-year history, The Associated Press reported.

When the 34-21 vote was announced, "no one clapped or celebrated," one board member said after the meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jealous was the only finalist presented by the search committee to the full board for consideration. Some board members wanted to hear from two others whom the search committee identified as finalists, but Jealous' supporters prevented it, sources said.

Looks like Jealous might have a tough time of it. There's a big split in the racial justice community between the civil rights generation, the Hip Hop Generation (roughly Gen Xers), and Millennials. Most of the younger folks see the older generation as clinging on to power for too long, and their institutions more involved in maintaining their own status and political clout than adapting to the new era. The older folks, conversely, think that the younger generations are insufficiently steeped in the tactics and rhetoric of civil rights and not fully appreciative of the struggles of the civil rights generation.

Most older civil rights groups - like NAACP - have an aging membership base. The NAACP has made some efforts to reach youth - including partnering with the Hip Hop Summit Action Network - but my understanding is that this has not been entirely effective in rejuvenating their membership. Consequently, new organizations like Color of Change, the Hip Hop Caucus, and the Ella Baker Center have rushed in to fill that gap and organize younger people of color.

Perhaps Jealous's election to the head of the NAACP can help heal that split and modernize the organization . . .