The Official Publication
of the NAACP
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The Crisis Mourns the Loss of Warren Marr II
Warren Marr II
Editor - 1974 - 1980
Warren Marr II came to the NAACP in 1968, serving concurrently as public relations assistant, assistant to editor Henry Lee Moon, and producer of a 15-minute weekly radio program, “The Black Man and Civil Rights,” which was broadcast over 98 radio stations nationwide. Click here to learn more... |
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Standing at the Crossroads
By: WENDY G. SMOOTH
Spring 2010
African American women as political actors stand at the crossroads of two politically marginalized groups —African Americans and women. Being situated at the intersection of these two groups has historically meant limited access to citizenship and exclusion from “we the people.” However, African American women’s access to both women’s and African American communities may make them the future of Black political representation.
As slaves, African American women and men were regarded as only three-fifths of a human being at the writing of the U.S. Constitution. African American women would later move from this marginal recognition under the Constitution to complete exclusion from constitutional protections with regards to the right to vote, as political scientist Mamie Locke points out. Following the Civil War, the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870 extended the right to vote to Black men only . Subscribe
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Editor's Note
By: JABARI ASIM
Spring 2010
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Click here to read full article
I was just a teenager the first time I saw Rev. Benjamin Hooks in person. I had already been aware of him, having read heroic profiles of him in national magazines. Those articles had provided details of his singular accomplishments, including his ascension as the first Black judge in Tennessee since Reconstruction and his work as the first Black member of the Federal Communications Commission. When I saw him, though, he had just taken the reigns as executive director of the NAACP. He impressed me as a wise, vigilant and eloquent spokesman who emphasized the need for discipline and hard work. For me, the reasons for his prominence were abundantly clear.
We were preparing this issue for publication when we received news of the deaths of Rev. Hooks and Dorothy Height, another civil rights titan whose long, exemplary life was dedicated to the pursuit of equal rights for all Americans.
Although both lived to see their work bear fruit in the form of progressive civil rights legislation, widespread societal advances and a Black family living in theWhite House, they would certainly urge us that the fight for complete justice is far from over. Just as neither Hooks nor Height were never content to rest on their considerable laurels, neither should we, the beneficiaries of their labor, allow ourselves to wallow in unwise complacency.
“If the times aren’t ripe,” Ms. Height frequently advised, “you have to ripen the times.” “The civil rights movement is not dead,” Rev. Hooks once declared. “If anyone thinks that we are going to stop agitating, they had better think again.” The price of freedom is indeed eternal vigilance — and their lives remain testimony to this truth.
Among the eloquent tributes offered by NAACP leaders, a statement from Hazel N. Dukes, New York State Conference president, seems particularly relevant here. “Without a leader like Dr. Hooks,” she said, “we would not have the generation of leaders we have today, Chairman Roslyn Brock and President and CEO Jealous.” One could say the same for Ms. Height, and it seems especially poignant that we have suffered the loss of these tireless warriors even as new leaders emerge. At the same time, we should not mistake the well-deserved prominence of trailblazers such as Hooks and Height as indication that Black political struggle is a top-down process.
Successful activism is almost always organic and depends on signals and energy that are born in the streets and polished in the legislatures and boardrooms where passionate calls for change are negotiated into policy. The achievements of Hooks, Height and other stalwart members of that glorious generation owe much to their ability to translate mass desire into focused
resistance. As we remember those titans, we would do well to emulate the skills that earned them their greatness.
Here at The Crisis, we are experiencing a leadership transition as well. We welcome a new publisher and chairman of the board, Laura D. Blackburne. She joins us after the retirement of Roger Wilkins, who for years served as our chairman, publisher and selfless provider of wise counsel. As much as we are saddened by his absence, we are also heartened by the arrival of Judge Blackburne. Thank you, Mr. Wilkins, for all you have done.
Jabari Asim
Editor in Chief
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Single Black Women...
Spring 2010
Single Black women have a median wealth of $100 compared to the median wealth of single White women which is $41,500, according to the report Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth, and America’s Future. The report was produced by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and uses data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances. The report found that:
■ Forty-six percent of single Black women have zero or negative wealth compared with only 23 percent of single White women.
■ White women between the ages of 36-49, their prime working years, have a median wealth of $42,600. Women of color in the same age group, however, have a median wealth of only $5.
■ Women of color who are divorced have a median wealth of $4,200 compared with White women who have a median wealth of $52,120. Widowed White women have a median wealth of $136,000 compared to $38,400 for widowed women of color.
■ During their retirement years, 38.5 percent of Black women who lived alone were poor compared with 16.7 percent of White women who lived alone. More than 60 percent of White women receive income from assets compared with only 25.4 percent of Black women who receive income from assets.
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Talented NAACP Image Award nominee Anika Noni Rose makes history; The NAACP’s new Smart and Safe campaign is calling for national standards on law enforcement accountability; The NAACP is known for its activism. Today’s volunteers continue this legacy
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June 28, 1910
The Executive Committee hired William Edward Burghardt Du Bois as director of publicity and research. He created an official organ, which became known as The Crisis.
November 1910
The first issue of The Crisis published with a circulation of 1,000. Taking its name from a poem by James Russell Lowell, “The Present Crisis,” the magazine was created as the official publication of the NAACP. Editor Du Bois declared, “the object of this publication is to set forth those facts and arguments which show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people.” |
"An Evening with David Levering Lewis"
"An Evening with David Levering Lewis," hosted by The Crisis magazine on Friday, February 19, 2010 at the New York Hilton. (L.toR.) Editor Jabari Asim, Myrlie Evers-Williams, David Levering Lewis, Roger Wilkins, Julian Bond, Chairman Laura D. Blackburne.
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NAACP Celebrating a Century, 100 Years
in Pictures
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