Getting back on course; the NAACP survives a public airing of dirty laundry

Black Enterprise, Nov, 1994 by Joyce Jones

During the weeks before he was unceremoniously fired as executive director of the NAACP, Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis told BLACK ENTERPRISE: Frederick Douglass used to say a long time ago that agitation has its place and I still believe that."

Ironically, the main question that emerged from the organization's public fiasco is: Can the NAACP still effectively agitate society on behalf of black folk? Long before Chavis fell victim to his decision to commit $332,400 of the financially strapped organization's money to head off a sexual harassment suit, many believed the NAACP had become irrelevant, especially to today's younger black generation.

The Chavis affair, observers say, only revealed more problems, most notably a board that practiced little or no supervision. Others say the episode exposed the organization's dependence on outside funding sources - at least 20% of the group's $18 million annual budget comes from corporate and foundation contributions - and its need to find a new leader who can appeal to younger blacks.

While no one doubts the continued existence of the nation,s oldest civil rights organization, people are calling for change.

Already, leaders such as David Dinkins, Douglas Wilder and Jewell Jackson McCabe are being mentioned as the new executive director, although the NAACP doesn't seem to be in any hurry to find Chavis, successor. Most in the organization believe other problems must be solved before it can attract an appropriate leader.

"We can't do everything now... And no one will want to come to a place where they don't know where the bodies are buried," says board member Hazel Dukes.

The organization is moving quickly to address its financial concerns. "We have to convince our membership and our contributors that we are willing to bite the bullet and sacrifice whatever needs to be sacrificed," says board member Joe Madison. "We will do whatever is necessary to stop the financial hemorrhaging that has occurred in the last 18 months."

After firing Chavis, the board called in auditors to determine the exact amount of the deficit, which some reports placed at $3 million.

Board Chairman William F. Gibson says the Ford Foundation, Nike and other corporations have offered technical and financial support. "They're prepared now [that Chavis is gone] to sit down to discuss long-range goals of financing the NAACP to keep us stable," Gibson says.

But observers insist the board must also examine itself. Even the harshest Chavis critics don't blame him entirely for all that went wrong during his short reign.

"What happened to the institutional processes" asks Michael Meyers, executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition and a former assistant director of the NAACP. "They just collapsed!"

Daniel Langan of the National Charities Information Bureau in New York says the board must now assure the public that it is "steering the ship and not being steered."

Gibson says the board has created two overseeing committees to help the NAACP's interim administrative team, one to restructure personnel policies and the other to oversee the internal audit and financial operations.

Nonetheless, Meyers and others believe that new board members must be brought in if things are to change.

The past year has been filled with difficult but necessary lessons for the 85-year-old NAACP. So, perhaps Chavis was right. Agitation does have its place.