I Have the Honor of Serving as Second Vice President of the Vancouver, WA NAACP

Beloved: 

I am grateful and humbled to be making an exciting announcement: I have accepted the Second Vice President position with the Vancouver, WA NAACP Chapter. 

My focus will be Black LGBTQIA+ community cultivation, and honestly, I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate use of my  gifts, my life experience, and most importantly, my own liberation as a gift for my people.

I have to be honest: I have paid dues to the NAACP since I was no longer house-less, but have seldom engaged. It seemed to me like an institution that had served us during some of the most critical junctures in Black liberation history, particularly as the historical witness to lynching, but I didn’t see much current relevancy. Nevertheless, if I want to dismantle cis-hestero patriarchy in the Black community, this is a good start. Serving my community, listening to Queer, Trans elders, and following Black Woman is a start.

All are things I can do with this chapter.  

Little queer eleven-year-old Lenny is doing cartwheels as I make this announcement on MLK day. When I was a boy, I would dream of being an NAACP lawyer and going out to fight for justice. I had no concept of the amount of horror those elders had waded through to scrape a right to vote together from the ashes of thousands of lives torn apart by white supremacy. This is a dream born in the back of a library now coming to fruition in such an unexpected manner. Born in-between the creased pages, handwritten notes, poor lighting, a stack of books by Langston, and one by Uncle Jimmy ( James Baldwin.)

I want to thank chapter president Jasmine Tolbert for trusting me with this honor and responsibility.  I will do my best to represent Black LGBTQIA+ Liberation when I can, and fight for it locally with everything I got.

For issues in Vancouver WA dealing with justice for the Black LGBTQIA+ community please email me at secondvicepresident@naacpvancouverwa.org

Written in love and liberation

Lenny Duncan +

2nd Vice President Vancouver WA NAACP

LGBTQIA+Community Cultivation