
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 5, 1994                   TAG: 9409070018
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: BRENDA E. STEVENSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT'S TIME A BLACK WOMAN LED THE NAACP

MORE THAN a century and a half ago, a black woman named Maria Stewart began to make her mark in Boston's young abolitionist movement. As she grew in power and popularity, male black leaders - envious of her stature and stung by her criticism - accused her of being ``promiscuous'' for daring to be a public leader of men and women. The men kept their authority, but their deceit cost the abolitionists more than Maria Stewart's reputation: It cost them a leader.

Unfortunately, Maria Stewart became not the exception but the rule in the black community. Time and again, black women with leadership potential took a back seat to black men. But African-Americans can no longer afford to dismiss black women in our search for effective leadership. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People would benefit both practically and symbolically from choosing a woman as its new executive director. Since its founding in 1909, the organization has limited its potential by failing to choose a woman as its director.

By its own admission, the NAACP needs more members, more influence within and outside of the black community, and more administrative and operational expertise. A number of African-American women have the intellect, experience, commitment, character and prominence to provide the leadership necessary to address these needs and to move forcefully into the 21st century.

The NAACP's accomplishments under the tutelage of male directors cannot be denied. Black men themselves had to fight for leadership in the NAACP; at its inception, W.E.B. Du Bois was the only African-American officer. Maintaining visibly strong black male leaders also provides important personal, professional and political role models. But just as male leaders have served as exemplars for black females, so too can black women effectively show the way for young black males. African-American women are rarely given this leadership opportunity.

The African-American community has many cumbersome social and economic problems to combat, and among them is the deepening moral malaise of sexism in the black community: Sexism and its many ills threaten the black community's very survival.

This sexism comes in part from the male privilege at the foundation of American society. But class and especially race have denied black men much of this privilege, so black sexism springs also from this obstacle to black male access. Black men and women have tried to compensate by allowing black men patriarchal privilege in the black community.

But the price has been high - perhaps too high. The resulting sexism has infected black society at every juncture. Black self-esteem, the African-American family, male-female relations, our most venerable service organizations, and even cultural unity are all at risk.

The NAACP, like so many other African-American institutions with both male and female members, has remained steadfastly patriarchal and paternalistic over the years. Now, with the embarrassing charges of sexual harassment against Ben Chavis coming to light, its constituents are suffering as a result of this tradition.

The new executive director and its board must be forthright in their recognition of this problem and its varied manifestations. The new leadership must not only recognize symptoms of the illness - sexual harassment and discrimination, female battery, irresponsible fatherhood, disrespectful portrayal and labeling of black women - but act to find a cure

Neither can the organization, as the premier civil-rights association in the United States, afford to continue to treat those who get ``caught'' as if they are anomalies. Gender inequality is not just expressed by rappers dissin' black women. It is both endemic and divisive in African-American society.

Man or woman, it will be difficult to assume the mantle of NAACP leadership with ease. Yet, the new executive director must be willing to take a firm public stand against sexism in the African-American community.

This will be a painfully hard task, even for a woman, but we all have to learn how to effectively challenge gender barriers in our community. Choosing a qualified woman to lead the NAACP is a good first step - and long overdue.

Brenda E. Stevenson is a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service

by CNB