16 Jul 2004 I May Be “Super-Ultra White,” But…

The following are excerpts from an article by C. Stone Brown on DiversityInc. (Diversity magazine’s website) on July 14 (subscription required — free trial available):

Although some have criticized Bill Cosby for highly publicized comments he’s made about poor African Americans in recent weeks, [NAACP President] Kweisi Mfume drew the line between Cosby’s remarks and to those made by white conservatives who have voiced similar remarks critical of African Americans.

‘Bill Cosby has legitimacy, that’s the one difference… He has legitimacy in the larger black community. In other words [Cosby’s] ‘been, there, done that,” said Mfume. ‘He has legitimacy that the super-ultra white conservative doesn’t. So when he says something, you listen differently. That’s opposed to Rush Limbaugh, who has no legitimacy whatsoever in the black community – none, although he thinks he does.'”

Also:

Mfume said the NAACP has been working overtime on its voter registration drives.

“Our whole purpose this year has been to go to every nook and cranny of this country and to find people to register them to vote and to teach them how to vote, particularly in states that are going to make a difference. I’ve just looked at all the other organizations that have come on the scene,” he said.

But that is just the first phase of the NAACP voter-registration drive, said Mfume.

“Phase two is for us to go after ‘unlikely’ voters for the rest of the year because pollsters never count them. It’s the ‘unlikely’ voter that is going to make a real difference in this year’s election because it is the ‘unlikely’ voter that is going to be more motivated to come out to vote than those who think they won something four-years ago.”

Since I am “super-ultra white,” I probably lack the “legitimacy” (whatever that is) to ask, but isn’t the NAACP’s President saying in the second excerpt that the NAACP is an openly-political organization trying to “make a difference” in a federal election?