Hilary O. Shelton: A conversation with the NAACP's Capitol Hill point man

New Crisis, The, Sep/Oct 2000 by Brown, C Stone

For nearly 60 years, the NAACP's Washington Bureau has tracked and influenced federal legislation that affects African Americans. Since becoming bureau director in 1997, Hilary 0. Shelton, 43, has been responsible for advocating the NAACP agenda in Congress. Shelton's once also compiles report cards on congressional votes.

Prior to joining the Washington Bureau, Shelton served as federal liaison with the United Negro College Fund in Washington and program director for the United Methodist Church's social justice agency. Born and raised in St. Louis, Shelton holds degrees from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University in Boston. He lives in Washington with his wife and two sons.

With the November election approaching, Crisis Senior Contributor C. Stone Brown talked with Shelton about issues vital to the African-American community.

CRISIS: How important is this election to African Americans?

SHELTON: It's extremely important because we need to set a new tone and create a new paradigm as we go into a new century. The new tone needs to be that we want to ensure that our communities are taken care of and that the infrastructure and institutions of our communities are able to provide the services we need. We want our government to remember what our concerns are, whether it's education, enforcement of civil rights laws, prevention of hate crimes or addressing health-care disparity in our neighborhoods. Setting the tone for a pro-active agenda is extremely important. It is important that we not just talk about being able to conserve what we have, but that we achieve what we desire.

CRISIS: One of the things African Americans desire, as do all Americans, is an improved public school system. What improvements is the NAACP pushing for?

SHELTON: We want smaller classes. We know that individualized attention is extremely important. We know that one of the great things about private schools is that they have small classes, so that if students have special needs a teacher is going to notice those problems. We also support hiring more teachers and the need to have scholarship programs to help kids from families that have never gone to college. We also want to make sure that technology's in place.

CRISIS: Could you cite specific legislation that addresses these education priorities?

SHELTON: There are a couple of bills that will provide $50 billion in construction bonds, with 50 percent of those bonds being designated to disadvantaged communities. There is a bill that would help reduce class size. There are some bills that would bring more access to computer technology into our communities.

CRISIS: Do you think the country is taking the right approach in handling juvenile crime?

SHELTON: No. There is a problem with disparity when you've got 17 new prisons on the construction block and not one dime for school construction. We've got to talk about what happens when we're building all these prisons and relegating our young people to those prisons. I would look at the disparity in the approach to our criminal justice system. We know that our children commit crimes at the same rate as their counterparts in other communities, whether they're Hispanic, Asian or white. However, an AfricanAmerican child that commits a crime is six times more likely than his white counterpart to be incarcerated for a first-time offense. And the deeper they go into the criminal justice system, the greater the disparity.

CRISIS: Can you cite statistics that underscore the disparity?

SHELTON: African-American children make up 13 percent of the 10 to 17-year-old age group. Yet they make up 50 percent of all the juveniles transferred into adult courts. They make up 70 percent of juveniles transferred into adult prisons. That's unacceptable. We have to address those issues of disparity and make sure the criminal justice system becomes more responsive to our real values. Our real values are care and compassion, real compassion.

CRISIS: What about the adult prison system?

SHELTON: We know that African Americans make up 74.9 percent of all those who are sentenced for crack cocaine convictions. And crack cocaine has a much higher sentencing range than pot or [powder] cocaine, even though it's a lower percentage of the drug. The illegal substance is the cocaine. But we make up 74.9 percent of the crack cocaine convictions. That is ridiculous. It means that we're in prison for the most part for non-violent offenses, for drug use, not even drug sale.

CRISIS: There have been several high-profile cases of black men being victimized by police brutality, and in some cases killed. Is there any pending legislation that addresses police brutality?

SHELTON: Absolutely. One is the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. This is a bill that was actually written by the NAACP, with some of our friends, that would create a number of safeguards against police brutality We have argued that this bill helps to restore the trust and integrity that police officers so dearly need to be effective in our communities.