Letter to NAACP
Withdrawal of Support
URLs have been updated.
[address deleted]
21 October 1997
Mr. Kweisi Mfume
President, NAACP
4805 Mount Hope Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215
Dear Mr. Mfume:
I was pleased to receive your recent invitation to become a Friend of the NAACP. I have long been an advocate of the principles and goals of this honorable organization. I am therefore deeply saddened to say that I cannot in good conscience support the NAACP at this time.
Recently I became aware that the NAACP presented the Church of Scientology with several prestigious awards. Quoting from the August, 1997, International Scientology News:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), among the most prominent and influential civil rights organizations in the world, recently honored the Church of Scientology for providing and implementing the most effective solutions to rampant illiteracy, with LRH Study Tech through the World Literacy Crusade. In recognition of Scientology's contribution, the NAACP presented the church with two of its most distinguished awards.
[the Roy Wilkens Distinguished Leadership Award and the James Weldon Johnson Award]
Additionally, the Dr. W.E.B. DuBois Award was presented to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard (posthumously), who, in the words of the Western Regional Director of the NAACP, Ernestine Peters, is "the man behind this all — a man who has made this all possible. A man who has done so much around the world to help our people and all people in all areas of life, all over the world" (also from the International Scientology News, August 1997).
I am dismayed that the NAACP would legitimize this criminal cult in such a fashion.
The "Church" of Scientology is not a religious institution at all, but a commercial enterprise. I refer you to the May 6, 1991 Time magazine article by Richard Behar, "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power," in which the author states, "[Scientology] poses as a religion but is really a ruthless global scam." The article is available on the World Wide Web ("web") at:
<http://www.solitarytrees.net/pubs/time.htm>
You might also be interested in Scientology's disreputable practice of intimidating, harassing, and suing its critics. From the same Time article: "[it is a] highly profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in Mafia-like manner." Scientology has no compunction about presenting falsehoods to bolster its image. A prime example is its claim of educating 1.5–2.5 million South African children — a complete fabrication, at least according to the South African Department of Education and Culture and the Department of Education and Training. Please see the April 7, 1992 letter from the South African Embassy (Canberra, Australia) at:
<http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/biglie.htm>
Further, L. Ron Hubbard was a pathological liar, a drug user, and very probably a racist; see:
L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?
by Bent Corydon [and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr.]
(1987 / Lyle Stuart, Inc. / ISBN 0818404442)
<http://www.whyaretheydead.net/misc/Factnet/CORYDON.TXT>
Bare-Faced Messiah
by Russell Miller
(1988 / Henry Holt & Co. / ISBN 0805006540)
<http://www.solitarytrees.net/pubs/bfm/>
[privacy deletia]
Why did the NAACP bestow its honors on such a dishonorable organization? Surely it must be a case of ignorance, easily corrected by better research in the future. However, I can't help but consider a more sinister case — that Scientology somehow influenced the award process. May I direct you to the webpages of Mr. Ted Mayett of Las Vegas:
<http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/>
<http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/thewhy.htm>
In these pages, Mr. Mayett describes his less-than-successful attempt to bring Hubbard's racism to the attention of the Las Vegas NAACP and to discover the basis for the DuBois award. I invite you to thoroughly explore this website and its links for some rather unflattering documentation of Hubbard's prejudices.
I sincerely hope that the NAACP will recognize its error in presenting awards to Scientology, and particularly the Dr. W.E.B. DuBois Award to L. Ron Hubbard, or provide hard evidence for their merit. Until that is done, I must regretfully withhold my support of the NAACP.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Keshet