NAACP Financial Crisis; Bond asks public for Love

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>Facing a Financial Crisis, Bond Asks Public
to ‘Show Some Love’ to the NAACP</font size></center>

Julian Bond


Black Press USA
by Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – NAACP Chairman Julian Bond says the 98-year-old organization, which confirmed last week that it is cutting 40 percent of the staff at its Baltimore headquarters, is appealing for public help.

“We’ve asked our regular supporters to redouble their contributions and are asking anyone who has benefited from the work of the NAACP to ‘show some love’ by putting a check in the mail and becoming a member,” Bond told the NNPA News Service this week.

But, that’s not all. He says the organization has also “called upon our board members and SCF Trustees to give or get $15,000 each by the year’s end. That will put more than $1 million in our treasury,” he says. “We have asked our units – local branches and state conferences – to hold fund raisers and set up membership drives.”

NAACP leaders have not said exactly how many people will be laid off. However, the Baltimore staff will be reduced from 119 members to 70 members through both layoffs and attrition, Dennis Hayes, the NAACP’s interim president and CEO, told the Baltimore Sun. Hayes also said that the organization has used $10 million in reserve funds over the past three years in order to cover shortfalls.

Because of the crisis in finances, the national headquarters is also temporarily closing at least seven regional offices.

The financial situation is yet another controversy for the nation’s leading civil rights organization, only four months after former President and CEO Bruce Gordon suddenly resigned after only 19 months in office. He cited differences with the NAACP’s 64 member board. Gordon could not be reached for comment by NNPA deadline.

“We are right-sizing our organization to meet present circumstances,” Hayes told the Sun. “We had the unexpected departure of our CEO at a time when we were already without a chief development officer. So, understandably, we have to regenerate our revenue machine, our fundraising machine, to get us to where we should have been.”

For more information on NAACP fundraising, the public may call toll free, 1-877-NAACP98. Or write NAACP National Headquarters 4805 Mt. Hope Drive Baltimore, MD 21215.

 

[nittie]

I'm writing a check today. If the NAACP closes it's doors we can forget about it thats ballgame for Black people, it's over, fat lady singing.

 

[VegasGuy]

Except for the spike in activity at the local Kinko's resume service, I wonder if they close their doors if anyone would notice?

-VG

 

[nittie]

Over half of the U.S. government workforce is Black mainly because of the NAACP's work in the 60's and 70's, when you hear conservatives calling for smaller govt, closing army bases and depots what they really mean is we want these negroes fired. If the NAACP closes their doors you would see a whole lot of Black people at kinko's resume service.

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>
Construction Unions and Civil Rights Groups
a Bad Formula</font size></center>

Harry C. Alford

Black Press USA
by Harry C. Alford
NNPA Columnist

“BEYOND THE RHETORIC”

Since the beginning of the idea of integration and business development within African-American communities, construction unions have been livid and contentious against the efforts. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted, construction unions did their best to coo civil rights groups from fully implementing the law.

That’s why it caught them all by surprise when the first signs of implementation came from the conservative/Republican camp. Dr. Arthur A. Fletcher started the implementation out of President Nixon’s Department of Labor.

First was the Philadelphia Plan which integrated and set rigid goals for the activities of the Philadelphia shipyards. It shocked the unions into a crisis mode but there was nothing they could do. Next came the Chicago Plan and the unions there dug in. When Art entered the Palmer House Hotel and began his briefings, the head of the Chicago unions called Secretary of Labor Schultz and exclaimed, “It’s bad enough you are starting this stuff but did you have to send a n____ to present it?”

The union workers swore that Art would not leave the Palmer House alive. They surrounded the hotel and a few broke through security going door to door yelling “Where’s Fletcher?!!” Art and his secretary secured his hotel door with all the furniture they could move. The riot outside and the vigilante action inside did not stop until President Richard Nixon called Chicago Mayor Richard A. Daley Sr. and stated, “I have put the 101st Airborne on alert. You hurt my guy in any way and they are going to take over your city within 24 hours.” Daley called off the goons. But it wasn’t totally over. The close friend of the Chicago construction unions at the time, the Mafia, put a contract hit on Art. It took Nixon’s order to the FBI to make this go away.

The unflappable Art Fletcher continued with his mission – to present Affirmative Action to the United States. Constantly, he met adversity from liberal civil rights groups who could not understand how he could do this without their permission. There were congressional hearings and they would come in opposing his views and ideas. The unions decided to “buy” influence within these groups and, perhaps, slow or even dismantle his efforts. Year after year Art would go to the annual convention of the NAACP and request a resolution of support for Affirmative Action. And year after year the union influence would forbid the management of the NAACP to raise the issue. In fact, it wasn’t until 1990 that the NAACP proposed and passed a resolution supporting Affirmative Action, 21 years after the Philadelphia Plan.

It’s much worse today. It saddens me to see the NAACP back into the fundraising doldrums again. The fat unions will circle around like vultures in the Savannah and inject more of their money and vicious influence on them even more. They are going to be there like never before pushing for construction union proposals that will cause great disparities in hiring and training for African Americans. Construction unions have employment disparities that are totally counter to the Civil Rights movement and the views of its pioneers. It is sad we have come to this point. It takes groups like the National Association of Minority Contractors and the National Black Chamber of Commerce to fight these assaults. One would think we could just watch and thank our brothers in the Civil Rights Arena to do this but instead we find ourselves fighting them.

In what has been the greatest triumph for the adversarial construction unions in the 1990’s was the changing of 49 CFR Part 23 to 49 CFR Part 26 by US Department of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater under the authority of President Bill Clinton. It reduced the power of Affirmative Action by the USDOT to the pleasure of the union lobby.

There at the announcement and press conference was the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, standing next to Secretary Slater, applauding the debacle. Subsequent to that Secretary Slater cancelled Executive Order 11246 which sets the standards for employment counting and tracking of the racial make up of a workforce. On the Cancellation Order was a reference made to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. It was like – “Hey, it’s all right with them so all of y’all be cool”. The problem is that “them” included our nemesis the construction unions who had them in their pocket.

This was a very sad moment and turn of events. When the Bush Administration came in they exclaimed “Hey, don’t blame us. Your people did it to you”. We have yet to hear a voice of outrage or complaint about this from any civil rights organization yet. We will fight this and win in the end. Too bad the victory will come void of the civil rights community.

Harry Alford is Co-Founder, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.nationalbcc.org.

http://www.blackpressusa.com/Op-Ed/speaker.asp?SID=16&NewsID=13458

 

[VegasGuy]

He must know something many of us already know. Good post QueEx.

-VG