NAACP president Benjamin Jealous is stepping down from his post with the organization, he announced Sunday.
Jealous made his Dec. 31 departure known during an interview with USA Today on Sunday. He said that heading up the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has kept him away from his family too much. Jealous has a wife and two young children.
“Leadership knows when to step up and when to step down,” Jealous told the publication. “This day I can say with pride that I’m prepared to step down and make room for the next person who will lead this organization to its next chapter.”
The 40-year-old also told USA Today that he will start a new organization to help place more blacks in political office, calling it something of an “Emily’s List for people of color.”
His departure came at a time in which the NAACP was seemingly poised to work more with some Republicans to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision on the Voting Rights Act.
Jealous, who had been president of the NAACP since 2008, spoke at the National Press Club in late August about how the Republican Party can win back the black vote. He said the Republican Party has the makings of a “great civil rights agenda” and the ability to make substantial strides with the crucial voting bloc.
“Like [Julian] Bond, I grew up in a family with a great sense of history and a part of that history is a deep appreciation for the party of Lincoln and the role that it played historically,” the NAACP President said. “…The Republican Party has a proud legacy when it comes to civil rights.”
He continued, noting the recent reforms states — all led by Republican governors — have made to contribute to what he calls “a great GOP civil rights agenda.” Jealous noted initiatives in Alabama, focusing on early childhood education, Texas and Georgia, working to downsize the prison system, and Virginia, granting ‘second chances’ in employment and voting.
“Our country is becoming a majority people of color and [the Republicans] need to ask themselves can they survive … or do they need to go back to their deeper roots and become not just the party of Lincoln but the party of Frederick Douglass as well,” Jealous said. “When I look at Republican governors out there, you have the makings, if you put their different planks together, of a great GOP civil rights agenda.”
The NAACP President — who spoke at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington — also expressed concern about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Shelby County v. Holder. The case overturned Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act — which 80 percent of Congressional Republicans voted to pass in 1964 — and since its ruling, many states have taken steps to enact voter ID laws. This, Jealous, said, hurts young Americans and people of color most, but he was hopeful members of the Republican House leadership could lead the GOP in reinstating the provision.
“What I was most heartened by was the message that Speaker Boehner delivered to a Republican gathering in recent days over at the RNC headquarters talking about his commitment to Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act,” Jealous said of the RNC’s luncheon commemorating the March. “I’m heartened by the signals that Majority Leader Cantor has sent that he might be willing to support the same thing.
“I’m hopeful that Mr. Boehner will be able to look into his heart and more importantly look into the eyes of John Lewis and recognize that on this one, any sort of recent tradition of we don’t put anything forward unless the majority of the party is in alignment, that in this case it might be worth it to let this be the exception.”
