NAACP Launches ‘Keep Advancing’ Campaign

October 12, 2024

So, boom, remember how in 2020, after the heinous murder of George Floyd, non-Black people across America joined Black people in a wave of nationwide protests against systemic racism, and then after 2020, Black people were looking around for where all of our so-called “allies” had wandered off to?

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Remember when white people everywhere were wearing Black Lives Matter shirts and then a year later those shirts got tossed onto their dust rag piles (I’m just guessing here)? Well, the NAACP has launched a new campaign urging folks across the nation to stop with the fairweather activism, and to, instead, “keep advancing” in the movement for Black equity. (The organization is being more polite about it in its messaging, but still.)

Earlier this month, the NAACP launched the #KeepAdvancing campaign, “a modernized, refreshed approach to civic engagement that encourages audiences across all backgrounds to join in the fight for social justice and Black equity,” according to a press release.

“I’m honored and excited to be leading the NAACP into its next era,” Derrick Johnson, president & CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement. “Our organization has stood for advancement since its inception in 1909, and to stay at the forefront of the fight we must widen the margin of inclusivity and invite all to participate in progress because advancement is a right that benefits everyone. Association initiatives such as the $20M voter mobilization investment and our latest venture with CBS Studios, “Beyond the Gates” a Black-led daytime soap opera, are present-day examples of the #KeepAdvancing momentum in action – and this is only the beginning.”

The organization released a video ad for the movement last week highlighting the momentum that was catapulted on Blackout Tuesday, which the organization characterized as the “collective protest against systemic racism that radically silenced social media,” which took place on June 2, 2020.

Featuring a thought-provoking in-feed video and the riveting renaissance of the over 28 million Black square posts from June 2020’s #blackoutuesday, the NAACP

“Four years ago, 28 million Americans posted ‘the black square’. If we had a dollar for each one, we could make change that lasts,” the video’s narrator says during the ad.

But, I mean, also, if we had a dollar for every temporary activist whose activism card conveniently expired as soon as Floyd and the wave of anti-police racism protests fell out of the national news cycle, we could afford to tear down the entire justice system and rebuild it from scratch.

The NAACP is right, of course. We as a people — that includes all people — need to keep advancing. The thing about momentum is, eventually, it slows. We need to figure out a way to keep it active collectively and keep applying pressure, and that appears to be what this initiative is all about.

“This new campaign is unlike any other the NAACP has ever launched before,” said Aba Blankson, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of the NAACP. “Every element and decision made to bring this campaign to life, from research and ideation all the way down to execution, is a conscious articulation of our evolution. As a marketing professional, I’ll call it like it is – adapt or be left behind.”

In addition to the video, the NAACP is reminding allies from all backgrounds that there’s still more work to be done, and empowering everyone to rejoin in the fight for social justice for ALL. To do so, they’re writing a simple but inviting “Let’s #KeepAdvancing” comment under a still-counting amount of IG accounts/posts who stood up for Black lives in 2020. Influential names/brands include Billy Porter, Erika Jayne, Chappell Roan, David Beckham, JJ Watt, Lauren Conrad, Live Nation, Jason Tatum, Maria Sharapova, Nordstrom, Ulta Beauty plus more.