The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the oldest and largest United States grassroots based civil rights organization. It was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, by a multi-racial, multi-ethnic group of progressive thinkers and activists of varying political and religious backgrounds including Ida Wells Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling. They came together and all were committed to forming an organization dedicated to answering the call of justice.

Sometime around Christmas a letter appeared in the Gazette from a “lapsed Methodist.” I’ve thought of it on and off for the past few months as I pondered what was the point in keeping open and attending the Chilmark Community Church, which happens to be Methodist. Could doing good while serving on community boards replace the experience of church going as the lapsed Methodist suggested? My friends asked, “Why do you bother with going to church, especially when it is such a hassle?”

KEEP HOSPICE SEPARATE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I am not surprised to hear that the Vineyard Nursing Association is adding Medicare hospice services, even though they have been assuring the board and directors of Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard for several years that they are not. It is vital to recognize the difference in the level of care being offered by the VNA and Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. It would be better for this community if these apples are not all in one big VNA basket.

How Old Are You?

From a February, 1991 Just a Thought column by Art Railton:

You’re getting old if you can remember when:

You came to the Vineyard on a steamer, not a ferry, and she landed at Oak Bluffs. But not in a slip.

And a few folks, the rich and adventurous, arrived by seaplane, flying from Woods Hole and landing in Vineyard Haven harbor.

And if you said you were going to the “crick,” you didn’t have to explain where it was.

Trail of Lawsuits

Moshup Trail is an ancient place, named for the legendary giant of the Wampanoags, the indigenous people of the Vineyard. Its windswept, salt-blasted heathlands are rare and unlike even any other rare place on the Island. The clean air is washed with salt and the light that plays across the trail has a quality all its own. Perhaps it is the absence of trees, the extreme western exposure, or the spirit of legendary giants.

Winter Break

If you are the parent of a Vineyard school child, chances are you won’t be reading this because you are gone.