NAACP executives vote to ask four board members to step down

Jet, Dec 1, 1997

Members of the NAACP's executive committee recently voted to ask four members of its board who have run into controversy to step down, according to Chairwoman Myrlie Evers-Williams.

The four members are Hazel Dukes, Bobby Bivens, James Ghee and Henry Lyons.

Dukes, head of the New York state NAACP and an executive committee member, recently pleaded guilty to stealing $13,201 from a woman who was dying (JET, Nov. 10).

Bivens, a California board member, was arrested recently for allegedly owing $20,000 in child support payments.

Ghee of Virginia, also a member of the NAACP's executive committee, was jailed for six months last year after he pleaded guilty to 11 misdemeanor counts of embezzlement that did not involve the NAACP.

Rev. Henry Lyons, the embattled leader of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., is under investigation for mishandling the funds of the Black church group.

"We want them to resign because the reputation of the NAACP is at stake," Evers-Williams said. "Far too many people have suffered for the organization to allow it to be tainted by scandal."

The 64-member board sets policy for the civil rights group.