Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210016
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
NAACP TO CHOOSE ITS FUTURE
An argument of the generations is swirling around the NAACP's impending decision on who should replace Benjamin Hooks as head of the nation's oldest civil rights group.The issue is what the NAACP will be in the next decades. Black Americans who look to the organization for social and political leadership view this decision as a defining moment for civil rights.
The group's 15-member search committee gathered in Indianapolis this weekend. The committee's recommendations will go to the full 64-member board for a vote sometime before Hooks retires April 1.
The center of the argument is Jesse Jackson, head of the National Rainbow Coalition and one of four candidates for the job.
His supporters argue that Jackson's national visibility would be good for the organization. Opponents argue the movement needs new blood.
The discussion divides along generational lines: Older blacks prefer the 51-year-old Jackson, younger blacks prefer someone else.
Other candidates are the Rev. Benjamin Chavis, 45, head of the United Church of Christ's Commission For Racial Justice; Jewell Jackson-McCabe, 47, founder of the Coalition of 100 Black Women; and Earl Shinhoster, 42, NAACP Southeastern regional director.
"I don't think that Jesse Jackson should be a very strong contender," said Myra Dandridge, 27, of Washington. "There needs to be someone younger, someone fresher, and someone who has a different perspective on the entire black struggle."
Dandridge said she once belonged to the NAACP, but became disenchanted because she felt it was not addressing issues important to her. She noted all of the candidates are over 40, with Jackson the oldest.
"Getting people in their early 30s, people with a fresher perspective, with new ideas, that's important," she said. "If the NAACP does that, we can move forward successfully. If not, it's going to tumble on its face."
Ron Walters, 54, political science chairman at Howard University, said Jackson's high visibility could help the NAACP, in light of its split over Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination and failure to advance a defined black agenda during the presidential campaign.
"I don't think we have had the profile from that organization that we've needed, a far more aggressive profile. One wishes and hopes for far more vigorous leadership," said Walters, who was an adviser to Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign. "Certainly the Rev. Jackson can provide that leadership."
Chavis said the NAACP's decision could help blacks break out of the "one leader" mode it has been locked in since the 1960s.
"There's a popular myth that African-Americans need just one leader," he said. "We need many leaders, and we need a diversity of leadership that has competence on a wide array of key social, economic and political issues."
Board chairman William Gibson has said the NAACP wants a nuts-and-bolts manager with a flair for revitalizing the group's image, "somebody who understands what civil rights means and will mean into the 21st century."
The NAACP's search has dragged on for more than a year, amid growing criticism that it is ineffective and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary black Americans.
Despite the 500,000 names on its membership rolls, the NAACP has had trouble attracting young people.
"We have a major gap. It's clear we need to go in a different direction," said Wil Dyson, 28, of Washington. "We need someone who appeals to the younger generations."