NAACP celebrates 100 years - "Much more work to do"

This amazing organization, envisioned and brought to reality by businessmen, spiritual leaders and the great thinkers of their time, has reached a milestone: 100 years and counting.

While great strides have been made, certainly along color lines, we have the first African-American President of the United States - the first Latina Supreme Court Justice Nominee in Sotomayor - life is good on the surface.

Dig a little deeper, and there is another story to be told: our jails continue to be full of a disproportionate number of African American males and Latinos - many of whom are involved in their first offense. A recent phone call to my former home state of Utah indicates that too many of our youth have to go south of the valley of Salt Lake, instead of being seen at a local courthouse, primarily because of overcrowding in the juvenile justice system, but a factor that plays into it is also race - many of the offenders are black and Latino.

The American dream is for far too many, being lived out in projects and subsidized housing: watching from the outside, as basketball players and presidents of corporations make exhorbitant amounts of monies.

Please read the compelling story by Benjamin Todd, current president of the NAACP on CNN today and share your thoughts:http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/09/jealous.naacp.100/index.html