THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100247
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago, Joe B. Fleming was singing songs about freedom in a jail cell he shared with 15 other college students.
Their crime: sitting at a lunch counter in Marshall, Texas.
Fleming has never forgotten how the NAACP sent lawyers to bail out and represent the Bishop College students who took part in the sit-ins.
He remembers a lot of things about those days - the heyday of the NAACP's work at the forefront of the civil rights movement.
A lot has changed since then. Too much has not.
``Racism is not dead,'' said Fleming, the 53-year-old pastor of Portsmouth's Third Baptist Church. ``That's why the NAACP is still needed.''
Now members of the local branch have decided Fleming is the man to get that message across to a new generation, while leading the branch into the 21st Century.
``He has the enthusiasm that this kind of job requires,'' said Harvey Johnson Jr., president of the National Institute for Minority Economic Advancement Inc.
``He's very good in organizational development, and I think that's the key in pulling together to do things,'' he said.
``I believe he will focus on what is best for the city of Portsmouth - pulling together all of its residents,'' Johnson added. ``I don't believe he's going to be divisive, recognizing that togetherness is something that is going to be necessary for all of us.''
Fleming, who stepped in as president of the branch at the beginning of the year, is still appointing chairmen for committees, ranging from education and legal redress to housing.
He's only selected five out of 20 so far. But the process might be taking longer than usual because of Fleming's requirement that chairmen sign a contract promising, among other things, to attend meetings and bring in a certain number of new members.
Fleming used similar contracts as president of the Henrico County branch in 1981. He found it worked well, weeding out people who might accept the position without making the commitment.
Such expectations are typical of what some members say they like about Fleming.
Members also hope the minister will be able to bring more churches into the fold, a support that has been lacking.
``When I first met him, he was one of the more progressive ministers in terms of getting the church involved, politically and with the NAACP,'' said Ed Joyner, a past president of the branch. ``There were a lot of churches that just didn't align themselves with the NAACP.''
When Joyner approached Fleming about letting the branch meet at the church, he let them do so free of charge. The branch has met there for several years now.
Fleming grew up in Holdenville, Okla., a small town, where his grandfather served as president of the local NAACP branch.
The church and the NAACP were two of the most visible organizations for black residents in that town and they worked hand in hand to better the lot of African-Americans.
Fleming believes they still should.
In the old days, the NAACP could always depend on churches ``to get its word out,'' he said. But Fleming, like Joyner, has seen a change in recent years.
It was definitely something he encountered when he came to Portsmouth in 1981 and found a ``prevailing opinion'' that the church and politics shouldn't mix.
Fleming, a past president of the Tidewater Metro Ministers Conference, said he wants coordinators who are ``respected and . . . a bit aggressive'' in each church to recruit new members and to keep the minister and congregation abreast of the NAACP and its issues.
The Rev. I. S. Waters of Mount Hermon Baptist Temple doesn't doubt Fleming will be successful.
``He's well-liked in the community,'' Waters said. ``I would not be surprised if (membership) doubled.''
If Fleming knows a clergyman or anyone else in the community who ought to be in the ``forefront'' of the NAACP's work, ``he's not going to let (them) rest,'' Waters said.
``He's not going to let you linger,'' he said. ``He quietly pushes you. He's effective, and he knows how to motivate.''
Despite his confidence in Fleming's powers of persuasion, Waters doesn't say the road will be easy.
``I guess probably the obstacle that any leader would face in the NAACP is to get people out of a hopeless one-membership-won't-make-a-difference mood,'' Waters said.
There are about 600 members in the local branch, said Ethel Robinson, Fleming's predecessor.
Fleming and other officers have established a goal of 5,000.
The minister would like them to be the real thing, too, not just people who think the NAACP has served its purpose but who pay their dues just in case.
Fleming knows his work is cut out for him.
One of the biggest obstacles he thinks he will have to deal with is ``people not believing anything is going to happen.''
``People have been disappointed so many times by leaders who assume responsibility,'' he said. ``And pretty soon the organization ceases to be heard of because the people who are responsible for running it getting tired and slothful and a bit unconcerned.''
It's a problem locally and nationwide, Fleming said.
But it's not one Fleming is willing to see in Portsmouth - another reason for his insistence on a contract with those volunteering to serve.
Fleming also hopes during his term to see the local branch move into a headquarters. He wants the NAACP to be visible to people and he wants the organization's records, past and present, housed under one roof.
Members say Fleming also will bring to the branch a history of involving young people, an area that has suffered in recent years.
It's an area Third Baptist has done well in. The church now has a full-time youth minister and offers a variety of youth-oriented programs, from tutorial sessions to retreats.
Fleming, married and the father of three, said the goal is to have 50 youth members by the end of the month and he expects to accomplish a good part of that with the young people at his own church.
``We've got to show that persons in our church are excited and willing to follow and become a part of the branch before we can move out into other churches,'' he said.
If he can bring a breath of youth into the local branch, members will consider that a success in itself.
``It's difficult really getting the youth involved,'' Joyner said. ``They haven't encountered the real one-on-one segregation like a lot of people.''
That was different for Fleming's own generation, which got caught up in the movement and took on much of the work that the older generation sometimes shied away from.
He remembers they would say ``If folks don't want you in their place, don't go there.''
``We were young,'' Fleming said. ``We had a different opinion.''
Fleming hasn't swayed from that opinion.
``I believe Joe believes that all men are created equally and that everybody should basically be treated equally,'' the Rev. Rudolph L. Perry said.
``I think he goes that mile out of the way to see that they are.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
Joe Fleming...
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
The Rev. Joe Fleming looks at some of the past ministers of the
Third Baptist Church. In the old days, the NAACP could always depend
on churches ``to get its word out,'' he said.
Fleming grew up in Holdenville, Okla., a small town, where his
grandfather served as president of the local NAACP branch. The
church and the NAACP worked hand in hand to better the lot of
African-Americans. Fleming believes they still should.
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