Head Of NAACP: "Extremist Organizations Can't Have Influence!"

In light of the recent Lowe's controversy, Benjamin Jealous, current President and Chief Executive Officer for the NAACP, spoke with GlobalGrind to discuss the home improvement retail giant's decision to pull advertising from TLC’s All-American Muslim. 

STORY: Top Rabbi Condemns Lowe's For Dropping "All-American Muslim"

Lowe’s made an egregious error, callously caving into the Florida Family Association's (FFA) threats to boycott the company if they didn’t pull advertisement from the popular reality show.

As a result, Lowe's actions caused a massive uproar in both the Muslim community and throughout the entire nation. 

STORY: GlobalGrind Supports the Growing Boycott Against Lowe's!

Jealous spoke with us on the matter and expressed what role the NAACP will play in righting this controversial wrong.

GlobalGrind: What is the NAACP’s stance on Lowe’s pulling advertising from All American Muslim?

Ben Jealous: People are concerned by reports that Lowe’s and Kayak.com may have been influenced by the actions of this extremist organization and we are in the process of seeking out a meeting to discuss what happened and to better gather the facts.

We are deeply concerned that the media reports that (Lowe's) admitted this was a part of their decision making process will just encourage some more of this kind of Islamophobic behavior from more extremist groups. For us, this is part of a line of work that goes back to our first engagement of Hollywood in 1915 after the release of the movie Birth of a Nation.

We have been concerned for almost a century that positive images should be shown and they should be supported. Television serves our country best is when it helps to debunk stereotypes and reveal the truth about communities and this show, All American Muslim, I think it may be part of the best tradition of television.

What role will the NAACP play in pursuing an apology from Lowe’s?

Right now we are seeking for media to get to the bottom of things. We are in the middle of trying to gather the facts.

But if the media reports are true then not only should they apologize, but they should get back to advertising on the show. If indeed they bowed to pressure from such an extremist organization, then they have made a great mistake and they need to reverse course.