Civil Rights Crusading -- NAACP Style

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - At Baltimore’s Lexington Market, cold beer is poured fresh from the tap — but there’s a catch.

To buy a cup of suds, patrons must also purchase food — a policy some customers call a “rip-off” and the NAACP alleges is “possible discrimination.”

“I think it’s extortion,” said Rodney Orange, the fifth past president of the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “Why should someone have to buy food if all they want is a cup of beer?”

See, Rodney wanted a beer only -- no food -- and was told it was against market policy and he would have to buy food. Then, instead of worrying about things like the murder rate in Baltimore among young black males, or the unemployment rate, or any number of real problems in the black community; or just going to any other market in the city, he decided to protest the possible discrimination of Lexington Market for only selling beer to patrons who buy food. Makes sense. Or I guess I should say in Baltimore this makes sense.

See here, here for more proud and pointless moments (respectively) in recent Baltimore NAACP history.

Full story here. Via Baltimore Crime.

NAACP Confused; Buries 'N-Word' Instead of 'Nigger'

In case you missed the news, another senseless death in urban America:

DETROIT // The NAACP held a mock funeral yesterday for one of the most inflammatory terms in the English language: the N-word

[...]

"Today, we're not just burying the N-word, we are taking it out of our spirit, we are taking it out of our minds," Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said to thunderous applause of hundreds who gathered at the city's riverfront Hart Plaza. "To bury the N-word, we've got to bury the pimps and the hos and the hustlers. Let's bury all the nonsense that comes with this."

[..]

Leading the procession was a horse-drawn carriage carrying a simple pine casket, blanketed in wilted flowers. At the Hart Plaza amphitheater, the crowd gathered for two hours under the punishing sun, waving signs reading "Bury the N-Word" and "Gone forever."

I mean that's cool...Go ahead and have a funeral for a word, while actual funerals with real black people in caskets are happening everyday. Young black men are victims of homicides at a rate 4-5x more than their white counterparts, and I'm confident that not a single one of those victims was murdered by a word. It's silly, just plain silly.

Full article here. And yes, Mayor Kwame is that guy, who has had some problems in the past.