Tuesday, February 03, 2009

NAACP chief outlines new 'human rights' focus - Race & ethnicity- msnbc.com


NAACP chief outlines new 'human rights' focus - Race & ethnicity- msnbc.com: WASHINGTON - The NAACP's new leader intends to hold President Barack Obama accountable for his promises about civil rights, regardless of Obama's status as the first black occupant of the White House.

'The president being black gives us no advantage,' NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said in an interview with The Associated Press, adding that Obama's background as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer may make him more receptive to the NAACP's agenda.

Jealous said he expects 'the traditional relationship' that presidents have had with the NAACP: 'We will be the people at the end of the day who help make him do what he knows he should do. We will help create the room for (Obama) to fulfill, I think, his own aspirations for his presidency.'