Ready for a Revolution

Crisis, The, Jan/Feb 2005 by Fletcher, Michael A

Will new leadership mean a new agenda for the NAACP?

KWEISI MFUME emerged from the White House and strode purposefully toward the gaggle of reporters gathered in a semicircle behind a bank of microphones, eager to hear about his just-completed meeting with President George W. Bush. The session was news because previously Bush had all but ignored the NAACP, except to criticize it.

Impeccable in a black pin-striped suit and rust-colored tie, Mfume took on the cool demeanor of a public relations man as he explained to the dozen or so reporters that he had initiated the meeting in a letter to the White House. After his re-election, Bush said he wanted "to meet with those who did not vote for him and did not support him," Mfume said. He decided to take the president up on the offer.

When Bush was campaigning in 2000, he addressed the NAACP. In the four years since, however, Bush had refused NAACP invitations for private meetings and to speak at its annual conventions, making him the first president since Warren G. Harding not to address the group. A letter from Mfume to Bush seeking a meeting had gone unanswered four years earlier, and Bush had accused the organization of being unfairly critical of his policies. Last year, the president famously called his relationship with the NAACP "basically non-existent."

Things only got worse in October, when the association revealed that the Internal Revenue Service was reviewing its tax-exempt status because NAACP Chairman Julian Bond condemned Bush administration policies in a fiery speech during the NAACP's 2004 national convention.

But there was hope for a thaw in the frosty relationship when Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist, called to offer best wishes after Mfume announced in late November his intention to leave the NAACP. Rove's call was followed by an invitation for Mfume to meet with Bush.

Mfume described the Dec. 21 session with the president as a frank, man-to-man discussion, one that he hoped would rekindle a relationship between the White House and the NAACP - and, by extension, much of the civil rights community. Although Mfume was careful to say the session did not constitute an "official meeting" between Bush and the NAACP, he said he was hopeful the session "begins the process for future dialogue."

The sentiment seemed to be shared by Bush. "The president is always open to talking to people who want to work together on our common challenges and our shared priorities," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan before the meeting.

Mfume says he explained to the president why the NAACP has been critical of his administration. And Bush explained why he thinks his agenda - which has been opposed by the NAACP at nearly every turn - is good for Black America.

In the end, the discussion between Mfume ?and Bush turned out to be noteworthy less for what was said than for the fact that it took so long to happen. Through the years, many U.S. presidents have felt the sting of NAACP criticism, but few saw it as being in their political interest to ignore the group.

Remarkably, Bush did not pay a political price for that strategy. He captured about 11 percent of the Black vote in winning re-election, a modest increase from the 8 or 9 percent he won four years earlier. Bush's increased take of the Black vote proved pivotal in some key states, including Ohio, where he earned an estimated 16 percent of Black votes, capitalizing on large pockets of Black opposition to issues such as gay marriage and abortion. In Florida, Bush won 13 percent of the Black vote.

The complex political reality behind those vote totals will be a significant part of the challenge facing Mfume's successor. Many African Americans are conservative on cultural issues, even though they generally favor robust government intervention to overcome present and past discrimination.

That may partly explain why Mfume saw it as important to reach out to a Republican president who has not proved to be a friend of the organization. And while their 40-minute conversation may have soothed some hurt feelings, it did not bring much accord on the issues.

It was the kind of delicate session that has become Mfume's hallmark during more than a quarter century in the public spotlight. First as a Baltimore City Council member, then as a U.S. Representative from Maryland, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and later as head of the NAACP, Mfume has mastered a style of political diplomacy that manages to convey openness and goodwill without giving any ground.

Since Mfume announced his plans to leave the NAACP, many of the questions that have been raised about the organization in the past are resurfacing. Is the NAACP relevant? Is it stuck in the past? Is it too confrontational? Is it too accommodating? Is it too Democratic?

"The NAACP is as strong as it ever has been, in some respects," Mfume says. "In order for that momentum to continue and grow.. .In order to be relevant and in order to be able to marshal troops for change, you must be in a constant process of reinventing yourself and redefining yourself."