| NAACP Wraps its Convention Pledging
to Continue Fight for Social Justice
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman
The NAACP concluded its 96th annual convention Thursday by formally approving its new president and pledging to aggressively advocate for people of color even while some conservatives are working against the interests of black Americans.
"Our mission has not changed," Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP's national board of directors, told BlackAmericaWeb.com this week. "We are a social justice advocacy organization dedicated to ending racial discrimination. That's what we do."
More than 8,000 delegates convened in Milwaukee to hear speeches from high-profile personalities –- including the national chairmen of the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee –- and discuss issues that included the new U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, the proposed extension of the Voting Rights Act and reparations for slavery. In addition, the NAACP released a "report card" of the nation's industries.
Delegates were also introduced to their new president, Bruce S. Gordon, a former executive with Verizon Communications, who will take over the leadership of the organization on August. Gordon succeeds Kweisi Mfume, a former U.S. representative, who resigned last year to run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.).
"We needed someone who walks on water," said Alice Huffman, president of the California NAACP and member of the NAACP's national board of directors.
Gordon said in an interview that he plans to focus on increasing the NAACP's membership and endowment; recruiting younger black Americans and managing the organization more efficiently.
During the six-day convention, NAACP leaders said the fight for social justice is as intense today as it was 40 years ago.
"You have three branches of government that seem to have an orchestrated approach to, in effect, chisel away at civil rights protections. It's systematic," Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington, D.C. bureau, told delegates.
Highlights of the convention included a Thursday political panel with DNC chairman Howard Dean and Ken Mehlman, chairman of the RNC.
"It is important for us to be exposed to the thinking and philosophies of America's major parties," Bond told BlackAmericaWeb.com , "and having their Chairs speak directly to us is the best way."
While Mehlman spoke to the NAACP Thursday, President George W. Bush was about 250 miles away wooing 3,000 black voters in Indianapolis at the Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration, telling an audience that Republicans are improving the quality of life for many black Americans through education, the creation of more small businesses and increased home ownership.
In Milwaukee, Mehlman apologized to black Americans for racist GOP strategies of the past.
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," Mehlman told NAACP delegates. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.
"It's not healthy for the country for our political parties to be so racially polarized," he said. "Just as the Democrats came to this community in 1964 with something real to offer, today we Republicans have something that should cause you to take another look at the party of Lincoln."
But Dean told NAACP members that black Americans can trust the Democratic Party.
"We'll never take a single African-American vote for granted," Dean promised.
"We're not going to divide Americans to win elections," he said. "The Republican Party's 'Southern Strategy' used in the 1960s and 1970s lives today. In 2000, they used the racially charged word 'quota' to divide African-Americans. In 2004, they used gay marriage. And just you wait. In 2006, its going to be immigrants."
Later, Dean issued the following statement: "Mehlman's words ring hollow and lack credibility if he and President Bush aren't willing to enact policies that truly expand opportunities and equality for all Americans, rather than policies that leave African-Americans behind by driving up unemployment among African-Americans and driving down home ownership rates."
Roslyn Brock, a member of the NAACP's national board of directors, said the group is trying to establish a better relationship with the White House, and, she added, some NAACP board members are Republicans.
"So often the Association is accused of being a wing of the Democratic party. That's simply not true," Brock told BlackAmericaWeb.com .
"Each year, we invite the sitting president of the United States to address us," she said. "For the fifth time, Bush has declined our invitation. We are seeking an open dialogue with the White House.
"This year, we also reached out to Republican members of Congress and the RNC to address us," Brock added. "We are a non-partisan organization and wish to work with anyone who shares our beliefs on equity and fairness in American society."
Last year, Bush was harshly criticized by the NAACP for refusing an invitation to speak to the group for five straight years, the first president since Herbert Hoover not to speak to the group.
"Whatever our Republican critics say," Bond said, "we are studiously non-partisan. But that doesn't require us to be non-critical."
Earlier this week, the NAACP issued a tough critique of the nation's retail industries –- report cards which graded major corporations in lodging, telecommunications, financial services, general merchandising and automotive for 2004.
The five industries earned average and below average scores, the NAACP said. The C and D grades reflected, for most industries, a slide in 2004 within the areas of employment, vendor development, advertising/marketing, charitable giving and investing/franchising.
The convention comes as the NAACP works to overcome budget shortfalls and recover from allegations that its former president, Mfume, played favorites among employees and mismanaged the national staff. It is also fighting an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, which claims that NAACP officials' strong criticisms of the Bush administration violated the group's nonprofit status.
NAACP leaders say they support the Rainbow Push Coalition's march and rally on August 6 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and mobilize support for its extension. The NAACP plans to roll out an aggressive, grassroots national campaign to support the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, including state and local hearings to develop a full and factual record of voting rights violations.
"Anyone who claims that voting rights for minority Americans are now secure need only look to Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004," Bond said.
"A recent report said that 28 percent of all Ohio voters and 52 percent of black voters said they experienced problems in voting," he added, "and a dismal 19 percent of black voters expressed confidence that their votes were properly counted."
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