A message from the chapter president...
**Welcome to Georgetown NAACP 2007-2008!**
Dear NAACP activists,
Welcome back to Georgetown! If this is your first year, know that you are at an amazing institution where we can truly be the change we wish to see, if only we put our minds to it. I hope that everyone’s summer was relaxing and revitalizing, so that we all may be ready to take on the challenges and opportunities that will present themselves this coming year.
It brings me so much joy to be the new president of Georgetown’s NAACP! Last year our organization grew a lot, and I can’t wait to bring our chapter to even greater heights as this year unfolds. Though we have not been as big of a presence on campus as we know we should be, now is the time for improvement. Through our events and political action, we will show Georgetown what the NAACP can do.
Even after nearly a century of hard work and amazing achievements, the NAACP is needed now more than ever. In Jena, Louisiana, hanging nooses from a “white tree” on a high school campus was viewed as a “youthful stunt,” and now six black students who tried to fight back could face decades in prison. In California and Michigan, affirmative action has been banned in education and employment. On the Gulf Coast, the ramifications of our government’s delayed response to Hurricane Katrina continue to devastate the lives of thousands. On college campuses across the country, racist parties dehumanize African-Americans and reinforce stereotypes, even at some of our most respected instititutions. And in every inner-city and rural town, poor Black Americans are struggling to make ends meet, feeling unrepresented by their government.
Those these realities are certainly depressing, there is hope in the realization that we can do something to help. As president, I promise that together we will make a positive change, both on our campus and in our country. It starts with you, and that’s why I’m so excited for you to become involved with Georgetown’s NAACP. Together, we are unstoppable. I will close with the words of the unparalleled Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to whom we owe so much:
"If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands."
Sincerely,
Ellie Gunderson
President, Georgetown NAACP