Montclair Mayor Robert D. Jackson will be receiving the 2013 prestigious Thurgood Marshall Award from the Montclair NAACP at the organization’s 97th annual fundraiser tonight.
The event takes place at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, NJ at 6:30pm.
“Rarely does an award recipient demonstrate the type of extraordinary leadership as that of Mayor Jackson,“ said Montclair Branch NAACP President Thomas Reynolds. “We are extremely proud of his leadership and concern for the residents of Montclair and felt that he is most deserving of the recognition.”
The Thurgood Marshall Award is the highest award presented by the Montclair NAACP. Named after the Supreme Court Justice and litigator for the NAACP, the Thurgood Marshall Award pays tribute to those who have dedicated their time and energy in education, government, business, community service to the ideals, vision and mission of the NAACP.
Other 2013 honorees will include:
Education: Daniel Gill
Community Service: Cynthia Walker (S.O.F.I.A)
Business: Premier Dance Theatre
Legislative: Senator Ronald Rice
Student Achievement: Tiana Watson and Rodney Akee Gaines
Religious Affairs: Rev. Dr. Campbell B. Singleton
In Service: Rosita Dotson
Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.montclairnaacp.org or by contacting Marcia Brewington at 973-634-6111.
This is a blemish on the Montclair NAACP when there are so many people in the town whose lives are more closely representative of the ideals Thurgood Marshall lived. It is an unfortunate statement on NAACP politics.
idratherbeat63:
I’m sorry the NAACP choice of honoree does not meet with your approval, but I’m sure that the NAACP has reasons for its excellent (in my opinion)choice that you are unable to appreciate and understand.
@tallahessee Thank you. It has been asked in the past for the reasons for the Montclair NAACP to present the Thurgood Marshall Award to Mayor Jackson, but no one was able to give them. If you (or anyone) could provide the reasons for this award going to Mayor Jackson, I would be willing to revise my opinion. I did not arrive at this opinion until I saw no one could provide good reasons.
As no reasons have been given, other than “outstanding leadership,” I continue to question the appropriateness of this award. Mayor Jackson has had a privileged life and he has used it to be part of corporate America and self-enrichment. Merely serving as an elected, and controversial, politician who has done little to support the weaker parts of our society does not seem to be representative of the values of Thurgood Marshall.
So you are saying, Idrather, that Mayor Jackson is not especially worthy of the Thurgood Marshall award. I, of course, obviously, respect your opinion and your right to voice it, but what has Mayor Jackson done or not done to make him unworthy of the award, in your opinion? I am not familiar with local NAACP politics, but just an interested observer.
idratherbeat63: First off, it is not for you set the criteria for the Montclair NAACP’s award recipients. Frankly, to state that “this is a blemish on the Montclair NAACP” is not only an insult to Mayor Jackson, it is also an insult to the Montclair NAACP leadership.
I’m not even going to get into the fact that you have no idea what Mayor Jackson has or has not done throughout his life “to support the weaker parts of society.”
You seem to think that since, as you claim, “Mayor Jackson has had a privileged life and he has used it to be part of corporate America and self-enrichment,” this is somehow a negative. I believe that Thurgood Marshall would have been pleased that Mayor Jackson has taken advantage of the opportunities that were afforded to him largely because of the struggle and sacrifices made by Thurgood Marshall and others who came before Mayor Jackson. Despite your belief that Mayor Jackson “has had a privileged life” as sure his route to success had its obstacles.
You may not be able to appreciate the pride and admiration some have for Mayor Jackson, but to insinuate that the choice was based on “NAACP politics” is untoward and offensive.
@tallahesse So do fill us in on what Mayor Jackson has done to deserve this award. So far no one (including you) can answer.
I have no objection to someone have a privileged life, to working in the corporate world and to focusing on self-enrichment. That is all fine and good for that individual. In this case, however, there are many many more successful people in Montclair. But this in no way is deserving of this award.
My first thought was “Who is he leading, and where is he leading them?”
@idrather:
gee, sorry none one will answer your anonymous, hate-based request for further information. (have you tried contacting the org itself? no? thought not.)
i guess your sense of entitlement comes from your privileged upbringing.
idratherbeat63, tallahassee set you straight with how absurd your question is. But I’ll give you ONE reason Mayor Jackson makes an obvious choice.
He is a Black man elected Mayor for the second time of a well-regarded White majority community.
A minority constituent elected to a leading office of a majority district shows not just leadership, but an understanding of how best to relate and communicate a sense of sameness. That. Is. Leadership.
But you seem to be looking for “HE DID X,” and that’s why he “deserves” the award. But perhaps, you should look at the awarding organization, and who it honors and champions. With that, and knowing that Thurgood Marshall didn’t “lead” anyone or anything, you begin to see why folks think yours is not a valid question.
It was Marshall’s work. His example, that WAS HIS LEADERSHIP. For Black kids to see him on the Court, made it easier for them to dream. Same for seeing Obama. Pelosi. Hillary. Woods. Romney (he was part-Mexican, right?)
Forgive me if I suspect though, that you aren’t really looking for an answer, so much as a dumb argument.
This one could go either way. The guy does dedicate time and energy for sure, he is just not particularly productive or effective. He is certainly not a great leader and should not have been elected, however that doesn’t mean that he should not recieve this award.
idratherbeat63:
The point is that, obvioulsy, the Montclair NAACP feels that Mayor Jackson has done enough to warrant the award. Sorry if you feel that the standards set by the Montclair NAACP for its award recipients do not meet with your approval. I guess you know better than them. Once again, your comments insult the Montclair NAACP leadership.
You also state that “there are many many more successful people in Montclair. But this in no way is deserving of this award.” There are many successful people in Montclair, but only one of them is also the Mayor of Montclair. As profwilliams points out, this is a significant fact and likely a sense of pride for the Montclair NAACP.
If you really want a laundry list of reasons why the NAACP chose Mayor Jackson, then buy a ticket to the fundraiser.
@profwilliams As you know I asked this question a long time ago and no one, not even you, could provide a reason. So that is why I feel that this award has not been well considered.
You state: “He is a Black man elected Mayor for the second time of a well-regarded White majority community.” This is not quite correct. Mayor Jackson was elected mayor only once. The first time he held the office shortly without being elected to it.
More importantly, what does being a “Black” man have to do with receiving such an award? If this this award is awarded with race as a criterium, then the moral thing to do is not accept the award. I truly hope that race would not play a role in the NAACP decisions to make awards to people. This is an inappropriate criterium by which to judge people.
We are all persons of color and no two of us likely has the same color skin. We need to stop pretending that race is a valid criterium for making judgements about others.
I do agree that organizations may choose to whom they make awards. Seeing that this is a public award, publicly announced by the NAACP, the public is entitled to their judgements about it. No one, including you or tallahessee, has the right to tell people that they may not make such judgements.
Yes, tallahessee, the Montclair NAACP has applied the wrong standards for this award. With all due respect for what Mayor Jackson has achieved privately and publicly, there is little that recommends him for this award. There are far more deserving townspeople.
idratherbeat63,
Your cry of “ain’t we all the same,” is childish, reductive and fails to address those differences in race, culture, gender, etc. That makes America great. Judging one the “content” of his or her character DOES NOT MEAN ignoring who they are, and where they came from.
Folks like you, with your overly simplistic understanding of one of the great speeches, leave me cold. And shows that our schools continue to fail to provide a true understanding of Civil Rights, MLK, and reading comprehension.
Moreover, the idea that an organization charged with the ADVANCEMENT of a particular group should not use this charge as a means for giving an award is just dumb.
Still, if a private organization chooses to give an award, who are you to say if the awardee is “qualified” or not? Try this: join the NAACP, run for office, and then create by-laws that mirror your view.
Until you are willing to do this, stop complaining. Because it doesn’t concern you. Does it?
“I truly hope that race would not play a role in the NAACP decisions to make awards to people.’
—just gonna let that one stand on its own here for a minute…
@jcunningham Thank you. You appear to understand.
@profwilliams “Your cry of ‘ain’t we all the same,’ is childish, reductive and fails to address those differences in race, culture, gender, etc. That makes America great.” Your grammar is failing again. That aside, no one stated here “ain’t we all the same.” We are all truly different (and that is the reason to oppose Superintendent MacCormack and the Board of Education with their fixation to teach to “pencil in the dot tests”).
You seem to know nothing about American history if you believe that “race makes America great.” The pretense of “race” has done nothing but to separate people and families in this country. It is not just a blemish on our history, it is an abhorrence that has destroyed millions and millions of lives, and continues to do so.
Race did indeed “make America great” in the same way it made all the other British, French, German, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese colonies great, just as it made the Ashanti Kingdom, Nazi Germany and South Africa great. Don’t you think it is time to stop with this race nonsense?
It is difficult to think of anything in history that has been more reductive than race.
Race does not exist. Pretending it does so is purely stupid. There is not a single valid criterium for race. So sit in Ray’s this evening dealing out your secret handshakes and do your racial profiling of the people on Church Street, but please stop teaching our children to do so.
Where do you guys get the energy? If only we could harness this wind for the good of humankind.