Essay 1799

From The New York Times…

---------------------------------

President Is Leaving N.A.A.C.P.

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

WASHINGTON — The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said on Sunday that he was stepping down after only 19 months on the job, signaling divisions within the organization, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group.

The president, Bruce S. Gordon, 61, a former Verizon executive who was relatively unknown in the civil rights community when he was tapped to run the N.A.A.C.P., said he resigned because of differences with the board over his role and the direction of the organization.

“In order for any organization to be effective, there has to be a tight alignment between the C.E.O. and the board,” Mr. Gordon said. “That alignment in this case does not exist.”

In interviews, black leaders close to the organization said the reasons behind his departure stemmed from a dispute over its future role in a nation where the battlefront for civil rights has shifted.

“We want it to be a social justice organization; he wanted it to be more of a social service organization,” said Julian Bond, the chairman of the N.A.A.C.P. board. “Our mission is to fight racial discrimination and provide social justice. Social service organizations deal with the effects of racial discrimination. We deal with the beast itself.

“There are many organizations that provide social services,” Mr. Bond continued. “We say, ‘Good for them.’ But we are one of the very few that provide social justice. It is popular to say that we are in a post-civil rights period, but we don’t believe that.”

Mr. Gordon said he did not believe that the organization should abandon its civil rights mission but rather that it should expand its role to include providing social services. “This is not an either/or,” he said. “There needs to be the right balance between advocacy and service.”

“It would be insane to give up on advocacy,” he continued. “I just think we can do more than that, and should.”

[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]