A Glimpse of the Opening of the 106th Annual NAACP Convention

As I arrived at the Pennsylvania Convention Center,a prominent modern building located in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, I noticed two individuals who greeted me at the convention door. Wali Smith, who has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP and active member of its ACT-SO committee ,for several years, and whose wife Kathleen Coleman was its chair, was standing at the door greeting newcomers as they entered. I greeted him and he quickly introduced me to his grand-daughter who was helping him give out the necessary information on the NAACP ACT-SO  competition.

       The Act-So competition is usually held at the beginning of the NAACP convention, in fact it had been taking place for about two days before the NAACP Board of Directors meeting .In 1976 , Vernon Jarrett (1918-2004) founded ACT-SO, The Academic and Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympic , a yearlong achievement  program among African-American high school students.     

        Vernon Jarrett was an African American journalist who worked in newspaper, television and radio. He was born in Paris ,Tennessee, his parents were school teachers. He graduated from Knoxville College in Tennessee. He moved to Chicago in 1946 and began his journalism career at the Chicago Defender .There, he covered a race riot. In the 1940’s he also worked for the Associated Negro Press. He and Oscar Brown Jr., an African American composer produced Negro News Front , the first daily radio news broadcast in the United States created by African Americans. Vernon Jarrett was also a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and was host on Chicago’s ABC-TV station, WLS. He was also one of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists, serving as the organization’s second president.

      In 1977 the NAACP Board of Directors adopted a resolution to accept ACT-SO as an official sponsored by local NAACP youth achievement program that would be sponsored  by  local NAACP units, conduct an annual local competition and bring a contingency of gold medalists to the annual National ACT-SO Competition. The first  National ACT-SO Competition was held in 1978, in Portland , Oregon. Seven cities, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New Orleans and St. Louis, participated.

            Things were quiet at this year’s convention but there was a sense of oneness that symbolized a peaceful victory. I felt this when I spotted several fellow members of the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference, including the state conference president Dwayne D. Jackson, in convention registration line. There was a sense of solidarity. There was sense of hope. There was a sense of pride.

            The NAACP Board of Directors  decided to end its 15 year boycott of the confederate flag. The Board felt that while removing the flag doesn’t end discrimination , “it does symbolize an  end to the reverence of and adherence to values that support racially based slavery and hatred which has divided our country for too long.”  At the conclusion of the NAACP Board of Directors meeting ,I gave long time friend and associate NAACP, chair Roslyn M. Brock, a hug. The confederate flag at the South Carolina Capitol had been lowered. Those who fought against its slavery and oppression should be remembered . The youth who represent our future should be concentrated on and advanced.