# Is the NAACP actually being contradictory?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 14, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137 "2023-03-14T03:30:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137/1 "2023-03-14T03:30:32Z")

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the name includes the words “colored people”, so it should include all people of color–Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islanders? But does it actually involve itself with other “races”

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137/2 "2023-03-14T03:38:41Z")

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No; it’s just that the name of the organization dates from its founding, in 1909. At that time, in the U.S., “colored” or “colored people” was a term that was commonly used to refer to people of African descent.

> **[Colored](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored)**
>
> Colored (or coloured) is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow Era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur, though it has taken on a special meaning in Southern Africa.
> The word colored (Middle English icoloured) was first used in the 14th century but with a meaning other than race or ethnicity. The earliest uses of the term to denote a member of dark-skinned groups of peoples occurred in the second part of the 18th ...

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**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137/3 "2023-03-14T03:40:36Z")

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It is a very inclusive organization. Always has been.

Edit: I’ll take this time to say that targeting civil issues that **affect Black Americans disproportionally** doesn’t mean that they deal with these issues **to the exclusion of non-Black Americans**.

Also the organization has always been multi-racial, from it’s first day to today.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137/4 "2023-03-14T03:42:08Z")

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Closed on March 14, 2023, 3:42am UTC



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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-naacp-actually-being-contradictory/981137/5 "2023-03-14T03:44:14Z")

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Not a GD thread at all. Doesn’t seem worth moving.