NAACP president calls for action at Dayton conference

‘Commit yourselves to winning that battle ...,’ he says at Dayton convention.

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer 11:21 PM Saturday, October 24, 2009

DAYTON — The election of Barack Obama as president fulfilled one dream for black Americans, but many dreams remain, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said at the Dayton Convention Center on Saturday night, Oct. 24.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, in Dayton for the Ohio Conference NAACP’s 79th annual state convention, told about 200 audience members it was the nation’s youth that help propel Obama to the White House, but their work shouldn’t end there.

“You, young people, have come of age just in time to find yourself among the most incarcerated population on the planet and the most murdered population in the country,” said Jealous, 36, the NAACP’s youngest president in its 100-year history. “What are you going to do about it? What you do is what NAACP’ers have done for years ... commit yourselves to winning that battle before you die.”

Jealous’ remarks were part of a concluding ceremony for the state convention, a gala recognizing the group’s ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) youth enrichment program.

Besides crime and incarceration, Jealous spoke of other pressing problems facing blacks in America, such as joblessness and rising HIV incidence rates, so-called “payday” lenders and challenges in health care.

He urged the audience to lobby their representatives in Washington to push for a public option in the final version of a health care reform bill, and he reminded them that, even with a black president, they can’t afford to be complacent.

“Change isn’t what just happens on election day,” Jealous said. “Change is about what happens every day.”

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