Some would say that the fact this is only now happening, 17 years into the century, is emblematic of the group, which is headquartered in Baltimore. At a time when masses can be mobilized at the drop of a Tweet — to descend on airports to protest the travel ban, or to call members of Congress to weigh in on the health care proposals — the NAACP is a largely decentralized organization of more than 2,000 local branches that work largely on their own issues, independent of each other.