Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 18, 1990 TAG: 9003182310
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
"We want to know what their position on this is and what, if anything, they are going to do about it," said Henry Carey, president of the Bedford NAACP.
Carey and leaders from six other local chapters, including Roanoke, Salem and Lynchburg, discussed the issue Saturday at a regular quarterly meeting.
Charges of racism have arisen in recent months against area chapters of one private organization in particular - the Loyal Order of Moose.
Recently, blacks in Montgomery County and in Winchester say they were rejected from joining local Moose Lodges because of their race.
Last year, the sponsors of a Christmas dance said the Bedford Moose canceled a party that was to be held at the lodge when Moose members learned that blacks planned to perform music there. A few weeks later, a foster parents' organization claimed a similar incident occurred at Vinton's lodge.
The Bedford incident occurred in October, and Carey says some people are starting to wonder why his NAACP group hasn't done anything about it.
Lots of people have heard or read about the allegations against the Moose, he said.
"We appear to our members that we are dropping the ball," Carey said. "What the public is saying is: `When are you going to do something about this?' Everybody wants to know."
Carey said he and the other local chapter presidents who met Saturday are actually "very, very adamant" about the situation. They chose to take the issue to the state - and possibly even to national - NAACP leadership because the issue is a statewide, not just local, problem.
It also would be unrealistic for local NAACP chapters to try to finance any legal challenge to the private organizations, he said.
In October, the state NAACP did agree to investigate complaints of racial discrimination at private clubs. At its annual convention in Williamsburg, more than 1,000 state NAACP members adopted a private-club policy that promised to "when appropriate, take action to guarantee that these organizations receive no government benefits" such as tax exemptions.
"At the same time," Carey said, "they haven't taken any action." He said the state officials should determine whether to "speak up or leave it alone." Carey said he will request a position paper from the state leaders next week.
Tim Philipps, a tax law professor at Washington and Lee University, has said legal challenges to fraternal groups like the Moose have been rare because of constitutional protections of freedom of association.
by CNB