The group partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia to speak out against anti-Semitism this week in a virtual conference.
“When you see that no one wants to address the elephant in the room, then you have to have some guts to deal with the issue at hand,” Felton added.
That issue is an anti-Semetic Facebook post by Philadelphia NAACP President Rodney Muhammad that included a white supremecist quote and cartoon.
Muhammad has since said he meant no offense, but did not apologize. He stepped down from leadership in the state NAACP but has refused to resign his post as president of the Philadelphia chapter.
“The local chapter requested that national come in and be the administrator of the branch,” said Pennsylvania NAACP President Kenneth Huston.
Huston said the national NAACP administrator will be appointed in the coming days, which will effectively strip Muhammad of his power but not of his position.
An election to replace Muhammad will take place in November.
Jewish Federation chief operating officer Steven Rosenberg is encouraged by the national takeover of Muhammad's position, but said there's a lesson to be learned.
"Hate speech, anti-Semitism, racism at any level by anybody can't be tolerated, particularly by leaders of civil rights organizations,” he said.
Rosenberg said this incident is a reminder of the need to continue to build bridges between Black and Jewish communities.
"The bridges have always been there. You know, the Jews started the NAACP, Jews have been leaders of the NAACP. Rabbi Heschel and MLK walking together in Selma. So, so, so many great stories and that's what we have to continue to do,” he said.
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