Racial Hoaxes and the NAACP
By Walter E. Williams

Last May, firefighters at a Baltimore, Md., fire station came under scrutiny for displaying a deer with an afro wig, gold tooth, gold chain and a cigarette hanging from its mouth. Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, went ballistic, charging, “There is now and has been a culture of racism and white supremacy within the Baltimore City Fire Department.” As it turns out, it was a black fireman who dressed up the critter. But Cheatham refused to apologize for his accusations. Doc Cheatham is a poster boy for demonstrating a much larger problem, namely that the once proud and useful NAACP has outlived that usefulness and has in some instances become an impediment to black progress…