NAACP President Ben Jealous spoke at Blue Ridge Community College Thursday. His speech was entitled "The Importance of Education in Leadership."

He talked with an emphasis on reaching out to the youth of America, saying it's important to tell stories about our history and instruct young people about our past in order to win the battles of today such as health care and education reform.

"We have public schools that are failing across the country, cities like Baltimore and Richmond where way over 50 percent of black men don't finish high school. To get to young people today, you have to affirm that the issues they are facing today are as important as anything we faced in the past and just as easy to overcome if we apply ourselves," says Jealous.

Jealous is has been touring the United States with his speech on youth and education.