The start of Black History Month is an opportune time to introduce Florida’s new president of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Dr. Amanda Wilkerson.
Coming from a family of educators, Dr. Wilkerson serves as an Assistant Professor in the College of Community Innovation and Education at the University of Central Florida. Her research revolves around how to approach equity and support underserved student populations.
In November 2022, Wilkerson was elected as the new NAACP President, and was inaugurated in January. As she takes on this new role, not only does she reflect on her rise to becoming president, but she is also getting prepared for future events and meetings for new and current members. Wilkerson reflected on when she first joined the NAACP.
“There was a lot of dissonance with me joining the organization about six or seven years ago. Because I was a young professional, and when you hear the words NAACP, you think or older generation,” she said. “Ms. Peggy Rivers, who is a fantastic person and has been a part of this organization for years, caught up with me and said, ‘You ought to be in the NAACP.’ “At the time, I was a doctoral student. I didn’t have the time. She invited me to the meeting, and I didn’t go. Until, she caught me again. With my life being very hectic, it’s almost impossible to run into me more than once, unless it’s on purpose. When she saw me again, she read me a riot. She gave me $30 in my name for the membership.
“After signing the application, Wilkerson said Rivers implored her to “not waste my money,” and involve herself.
“It was exactly what I thought it would be: a committed group of people who have been doing social justice and equity work for a while,” Wilkerson said. “I wanted to figure out how I belonged. When I started listening to the elders of our community, and the elders trusting our voice, I started seeing how I can contribute more. From that day forth, I began serving from the heart, and not out of obligation. I wanted to have more of an immediate impact.
“Doing different things and bringing value, I ran for office, thinking of how I wanted us to be regional partners for social justice initiatives. In society, everyone is thinking on how we can approach diversity, equity, and inclusion. People have an idea on what that looks like in a business setting. But what about working with the community? How can they reach out to us and have us work together? I wanted us to be the connection between the community and these industries, to power through and supporting social justice initiatives at the human level, and not just the work level.”
The more that she gets ready to take on this role, the more Wilkerson shared her optimism for the future of the NAACP.
“My hope is that the community sense that there’s value in the work that we do. People look at the NAACP and assume that they’re just going to fight for justice with or without the material support of community members,” she said. How we conduct the business of equity and social justice, and if you have a problem, come bring it to us. As much as we want to partner with industries, we have to partner with our community. My hope is that we manage that partnership a lot better. Where we can use social media as a vehicle to let people know that we’re here.
“We’re doing the work. We have programs and activities, come, and join us! That’s the easy part. The most difficult part would be asking ourselves at internal meetings asking ourselves, what is our progress to go from this? Have we really reached this impact index? Organizations like the NAACP does a lot of work for the community and it’s time to work with the community.”
Dr. Wilkerson shared a message for current and upcoming NAACP members.
“I look forward to working alongside them. I find value in the work that they have done,” she said. “For potential and hopefully new members, we’re going to create a bandwagon that you can certainly join. But when you jump in this bandwagon, you have to create an opportunity, a bridge to join. It takes a village to do the work that we are going to do.”
