Tuesday, July 13, 2010

NAACP and Unions had their place

Rush is generally down on the Unions and the NAACP - of today.

Unfortunately, I can't find the transcript today where he talked aboutt the NAACP being founded by three whites in 1909, but when he was talking about it, and he spent only a couple of seconds on it, I was thinking, so what? In 1909, blacks needed the NAACP! Just as workers needed Unions.

Today, of course, the shoe is on the other foot. Unions control many businesses and prevent many businesses from making much of a profit. Try to put a musical on on Broadway, with only 3 musicians...can't do it! You have to have a full orchestra or none at all! Need a computer moved in a company that has Union employees? Two men typically come to move the computer, but first they have to wait for an electrician to come and unplug it. Different unions - they can't do each other's work. If the building was on fire they'd probably still wait for an electrician to come and unplug a computer before they'd rescue it.

And the NAACP is just the same, today. More intent on blackmailing businesses into giving them money than helping disadvantaged blacks. For example, the head of the NAACP wrote a letter to BP, apparently, saying, in addition to this $20 billion fund you've set up, we expect you to give a bit more to make sure that people of colr get their fair share.

The state of Arizona is also apparently trying to "shake" BP down for more money. So many people out of work because of the BP oil spill, they're having mental problems, so of course BP should have to pay for their psychiatrists for the rest of their lives.

It's ridiculous. The BP disaster should be treated just as any other natural disasater. Give everyone effected a year's salary and let them move or find a different job. Don't put them on welfare from BP for the rest of their lives!

The founding of the NAACP
from Wikipedia - it seems like Limbaugh was quoting this entry on his show, if my memory is correct. But he points out that the three whites were socialists.
Pre-History: The Niagara Movement
In 1905, a group of 32 prominent, outspoken African Americans met to discuss the challenges facing "people of color" (a term used to describe people who were not white) and possible strategies and solutions. Among the issues they were concerned about was the disfranchisement of blacks in the South starting in 1890 to 1908, when Southern legislatures ratified new constitutions creating barriers to voter registration and more complex election rules. Voter registration and turnout dropped markedly in the South as a result. Men who had been voting for 30 years were told they did not "qualify" to register.

Because hotels in the U.S. were segregated, the men convened under the leadership of Harvard scholar W. E. B. Du Bois at a hotel (Fort Erie Hotel) on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in Fort Erie, Ontario. As a result, the group came to be known as the Niagara Movement. A year later, three whites joined the group: journalist William E. Walling, social worker Mary White Ovington, and social worker Henry Moskowitz, then Associate Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

The fledgling group struggled for a time with limited resources and internal conflict and disbanded in 1910. Many members of the Niagara Movement then went on to join the NAACP. Although both organizations shared membership and overlapped in their existence, the Niagara Movement was a separate organization and is historically thought of as having a more radical platform than the NAACP. The Niagara Movement was formed exclusively by African Americans, while the initial meeting which birthed the idea of the NAACP was with three white people.

The Race Riot of 1908 in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois had highlighted the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in the U.S. This event is often cited as the catalyst for the formation of the NAACP. Mary White Ovington, journalist William English Walling and Henry Moscowitz met in New York City in January 1909 and the NAACP was born.[9] Solicitations for support went out to more than 60 prominent Americans, and a meeting date was set for February 12, 1909. This was intended to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, who emancipated enslaved African Americans. While the meeting did not take place until three months later, this date is often cited as the founding date of the organization.

The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909 by a diverse group composed of Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Archibald Grimké, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, William English Walling (the last son of a former slave-holding family), and Florence Kelley, a social reformer and friend of Du Bois

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