Letter to the editor : "Reverse Racism Rebuttal

          I am the President of the Georgia State University Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and I was very disheartened by the Opinion article's claims. While I understand the premise that was intended to be argued, I would like to assure the Georgia State community that the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. does not discriminate. First and foremost, we have male members in our organization and, as a matter of fact, there are male members on our board of directors in our headquarters office in Washington, D.C. We offer membership to anyone and membership is never denied based on religious affiliation, race, gender or any such thing. In fact, when my executive director and other NCNW personnel visited Atlanta for a conference this past summer, there were more White men and women that approached us with interest in our organization than    Black men and women.

         There is a reason why the name has not changed although it has been greatly debated some time ago. The term Negro is clearly obsolete now. However, the name was kept in order to stay true to our roots and the origin of which our organization was founded. I don't think there is anything wrong with advocating for Black women as a member of a predominantly black organization. Neither do I think it is separatism, as I have been trying to recruit women of all races to join forces with NCNW at Georgia State.

         I thank Ms.Spornhauer for writing this article because she has fueled a fire in me; a desire to reach out to more groups and students on campus even more than NCNW has done in the past. NCNW is not a sorority; we are a council. A council assembles different people and organizations together for a common purpose. That is what we are all about; that is the purpose set for this organization by our founder, Mary McLeod Bethune. She referred to NCNW as an umbrella organization, an organization of organizations. I love the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. and everything that NCNW stands for. We care about uplifting all women of all ages, races and affiliations. I would love the opportunity to network and support as many organizations on our campus as possible, and I want all organizations to know they are freely welcome to join NCNW at any of our programs and events. I want as many people to learn more about the dream birthed in our founder, Mary McLeod Bethune. It began in 1935, but it still lives on.