The NAACP 116th Annual National Convention: The Fierce Urgency of Now (Part 2 of 2)
NAACP Dane County Branch President Greg Jones speaks at the Murdered and Missing African American press conference at the WI State Capitol.
by Jonathan Gramling
For the past seven months, Civil Rights have been under assault by the Trump Administration, trying to purge the federal government — and state governments and corporations for that matter — of anything that remotely hints of diversity, equity and inclusion. The National NAACP knows what time it is and so it selected as its theme ‘The Fierce Urgency of Now’ for its 116th National Convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina.
To open the National Convention, the NAACP holds the Afro-American Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics — or ACT-SO for short — which was founded by the late Chicago Sun Times Journalist Vernon Jarrett. Dane County has competed since it was formed over 10 years ago.
“Our NAACP branch did support two students to attend the National ACT-SO Competition,” Jones said. “Unfortunately there were no medals won. However the local ACT-SO committee is now moving towards recruiting for next year, planning programs that would benefit their growth and development in being a competitor representing the branch next year.”
As a civil rights movement, many people are engaged within each community in order for the national movement to be effective. And along the way, there is attrition within the ranks as people pass on to another life. The National Convention always remembers its members who have passed.
“It recognizes all of those fallen soldiers over the past year,” Greg Jones, the president of the NAACP Dane County Branch said. “In addition to that, the word is preached by an individual preacher whom they brought forward. This young lady from Baltimore, MD brought forth a sermon for the memorial service. That service is intended to start us off on a Sunday, remind us to attend church and reflect on those soldiers and warriors who have now passed into glory.”
Part of the fierce urgency is defending democracy and civil rights. The foundation of the modern civil rights movement was laid in the courts beginning with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Civil rights gains were won in the courts and in Congress as key legislation like the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed.
“The title of the session was Defending Democracy and Civil Rights in a Volatile Political Climate,” Jones said. “On this panel was a Congressional Black Caucus representative, Lauren Underwood, and Bennie Thompson who is an elected representative from Mississippi. What I thought was important was they talked about what we need to do in terms of addressing, defending and getting engaged in the issues that are coming in front of the community, and the NAACP and how we go about getting involved.”
And just as the movement of the 1950s to 1970s depended on the courts to defend individual liberty, it is the courts that now need defending in order to uphold democracy.
“They mentioned that one of the keys in defending democracy is going to be the courts,” Jones said. “We have to male sure that our courts are addressing those issues that come forward that affect democracy and our constitutional rights. They believe that the courts are going to be the guard rail that either maintain or don’t maintain civil rights and social justice going forward.”
Thompson took it one step farther.
“Individuals need to read the Constitution, know the Constitution and be able to recite it if need be,” Jones said. “He believes that one of the significant constitutional amendments that we must be aware of and have paramount in our minds is the 14th Amendment. We have to protect it. We have to guard against any misrepresentation and misapplication of it.”
While the common view of the present Congress is that it is in the hip pocket of Donald Trump, Underwood emphasized that resistance is going on.
“Number one, the Black Caucus is still at the front line opposing negative legislation relating to education,” Underwood said. “We are involved in mobilizing our communities to address those issues. She believes in rallies and marches and protests and most importantly, we have to produce the facts. We have to address the issues that we are confronting with facts. No narratives. No game playing.”
Jones was impressed with the moderator of the session. While she gave no formal remarks, she made sure the discussion went in the right direction.
“The moderator was Angela Wright,” Jones said. “She asked the group, ‘Why protect democracy?’ The reactions that they gave were somewhat telling, but not too surprising. Number one, if we don’t protect democracy, we will find ourselves in an oligarchy state of government or leadership and anarchy. They were basically saying was, ‘You know what? The only true system that we all understand and know, we can’t let it be changed. I thought their comments were quite reasonable and on task. Lastly, what caught my attention was that we need to focus on building coalitions to fight for the common good. Look at our community groups. Work with all of them. And always show up. Their challenge to the NAACP was to show up and show out when we have to.”
In the area of voting and voter registration, it seems that everything is going social media where people receive the words, but may not receive the meaning. The National NAACP wants to recommit to its grassroots foundation.
“Sam Hubbard was an important speaker,” Jones said. “He basically provided the data that the individual branches get that shows them where their gaps are in terms of getting out the vote. We can use the data to build our Get Out the Vote plan. He’s a data-gathering geek. But what he did was provide the information that shows us where our races are competitive, where they aren’t competitive and where we need to focus. Along that line, one of the big changes for the NAACP this year based on research is we want to have a ground campaign. Texting is okay. We can do all of the telephone things. But the data suggests meeting people face-to-face is the best way to reach folks to get out the vote. We’re returning to hitting the streets to get out the vote. The branch will be organizing canvassing opportunities, welcoming neighborhoods opportunities.”
While the Board of the National NAACP is the primary decision-making body throughout the year, it is the delegates from all over the country who help to set the tone and the direction of the National NAACP through the passage of resolutions sponsored by individual branches or a coalition of branches. This is the time for the grassroots to be heard loud and clear. The Dane County branch was an active participant.
“There were over 100 resolutions presented to National from the various branches,” Jones said. “Almost all of them — more than 95 percent of them — passed. They passed with some revision. They passed with some friendly amendments. But they all took off. The two that I would pick on that are relevant to this branch and to Wisconsin right now was there was a reissue of a resolution on missing and murdered African American women. They issued a resolution in 2010. We followed it up in 2019. And then in 2025, it was reissued again. I find it interesting because Wisconsin now with the leadership of Rep. Shelia Stubbs has now reintroduced that particular legislation into the Wisconsin legislature. I find a nexus between our NAACP vision on that one particular issue is important. Wisconsin’s caucus had representation from Beloit, Dane County, Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha. Those branches were represented at the convention.”
Washington, D.C. statehood was also on the minds of the delegates.
“One of the resolutions that we passed was to reconfirm and recommit for Washington, D.C. to have statehood,” Jones said. “At the Freedom Fund Dinner on Wednesday night — The Night of Excellence — I had a chance to speak with someone from Washington, D.C. The first thing I told her was we passed a resolution today supporting statehood for Washington, D.C. Tell me what’s going on. She said, ‘You know, it ain’t about the people in the community. We want it. It’s the politicians.’”
One of the most important things that Jones came away with is hope in an era where it seems that everything is going the opposite way of where the NAACP and its members are heading.
“One word I would use to lead off the impact of the convention is hope,” Jones said. “I think the presentation around this theme clarified and crystallized its meaning, its tone and its intent for a lot of the delegates and observers and attendees. That in itself generated hope. And I think the hope I am speaking of is that they are not giving up the fight. People came there depressed and concerned. But I believe the presentations we heard and the speakers that were brought forward and workshops we engaged in all came together to produce, in my opinion, a feeling of hope. And I think that is what we are going to carry through trying to move it forward.”
And the Dane County Branch came away energized to do the work that needs to be done.
“Maya talked to people who were interested in youth councils,” Jones said. “She came back motivated to work on establishing a youth council for the branch. Gwen came back thinking that we needed to grow our membership. I want to get engaged in reaching out to more adult members. Frances came back saying she wanted to do was have a bus load of kids from Dane County to go to next year’s convention, which is in Chicago. I came back saying, ‘You know, the coalitions that we need to build may include the existing partners that we know share a network and vision with, but we also need to find some new partners and build our coalition going forward. Jeannie wants to work on not just the coalition building, but also some of the other areas that relate to building out membership.”
For the past 116 years, the NAACP has faced an upward climb to achieve diversity, equality and inclusion. While the landscape has changed, the mission and the movement remain the same. And as the civil rights song says, the NAACP Dane County Branch “won’t let no one turn them around.”