ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
After serving five terms as president of the Roanoke NAACP branch, the Rev. Charles Green in three months will pass the mantle to community activist Martin Jeffrey.
Jeffrey was elected Tuesday as the organization's new president in an uncontested race. At 34, Jeffrey - director of community development and outreach for Roanoke's Total Action Against Poverty - will become the youngest president of the Roanoke NAACP branch.
Jeffrey will be installed Jan. 1 with other newly elected officers. Green, 72, will remain on the organization's executive board.
Green, who supported Jeffrey as his successor, decided not to seek another two-year term. He has served as president of the Roanoke branch, off and on, since the late 1960s.
"I've been at it a good while," Green said Thursday. "I have a lot of other responsibilities. I thought somebody else could take over and carry on. Martin has 100 percent support from me."
Jeffrey said he wants the Roanoke branch to take a direction similar to the course that national NAACP Chairman Kweisi Mfume has charted.
Mfume "sees a proactive agenda around issues like economic development, educating people and, of course, voter registration," Jeffrey said Thursday. "The emphasis is on proaction, dealing with problems in the community based on that agenda and making things happen."
Addressing economic issues is key, Jeffrey said.
"If people don't have jobs, it's difficult for them to focus on things that we who have jobs and make a decent living concern ourselves with," he said. "We can shore them up economically so they can focus on becoming more productive members of society."
Green said the majority of calls he gets from people - 11 to 12 a day - are about employment, primarily from victims of company downsizing.
Green has been a visible community figure, taking public stands over the years on issues from school integration to the revitalization of Henry Street, Roanoke's black commercial and entertainment district.
He hit rough waters a year ago, when 18 branch members called for his resignation after two former TAP employees asked the Roanoke branch to investigate claims that their job dismissals were discriminatory and improperly handled.
The Roanoke branch chose not to intervene. Some members contended it was because Green was a member of TAP's board of directors.
They asked the national NAACP to investigate. The national office declined.
"It just faded away," Green said Thursday. "It didn't amount to anything." Green contended all along that his serving as president of the Roanoke branch and on the TAP board in no way influenced how the branch handled the employees' complaints.
Jeffrey and other newly elected Roanoke branch officers will be installed at the organization's "Jubilee Day Celebration" on Jan. 1. Other officers are: Linda Webb, first vice president; Brenda Powell, second vice president; William Holland, third vice president; Juanita Smith, secretary; and Dallas Proax, treasurer.
Members of the executive board include Green, Evangeline Jeffrey, Elaina Duckett, A.L. Holland Sr., Marjorie Jumper, Mac McCadden and George Wilson.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Jeffrey. color.by CNB