THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508160180
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
For this one evening, the problems of black America were put on the back burner.
As fish fried and hamburgers sizzled at Coburn Park, about 70 members of the Suffolk-Nansemond chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gathered for its first picnic Monday.
Old friends reminisced. Several members introduced NAACP members to their families for the first time. And the only business members voted on was to give financial support to a scholarship dinner for Dr. L.D. Britt, a Suffolk native and Brickhouse professor and chairman of the department of general surgery and chief of the division of trauma and critical care at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Despite the little bit of business - and pesky mosquitoes and bees - the picnic was the highlight.
``This gives us the opportunity to talk and learn from each other,'' said chapter president Paul C. Gillis. ``We always have business, but this gives us time for levity.''
And there was plenty of it.
``Get you some of this fish, girl!'' Geraldine Diggs bellowed as she turned over golden brown, corn meal-battered whiting in a huge, black vat of hot grease.
Members hurriedly lined up with paper plates as another woman grilled hot dogs and hamburgers.
The group included a broad spectrum of Suffolk community leadership.
There were presidents of civic leagues, like Mary V. Richardson of the Pughsville-Suffolk Civic League; people involved in education and sports, like Dorothy Williams, former president of the Suffolk PTA Council; and Charles Christian, former coach at Norfolk State University basketball team and Suffolk School Board member. And Diggs is a housing manager for the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Since 1947, the Suffolk NAACP has worked to eradicate job discrimination and empower Suffolk blacks politically. Yet some say there isn't enough activism in Suffolk.
T.C. Williams, a community activist for many years in his Jericho section, has stood many times before City Council or the Suffolk Redevelopment Housing Authority to detail problems of his community. Yet the No. 1 challenge facing black Suffolkians, say Williams and many at the picnic, is apathy.
``We need something to fire us up. Maybe we need a fund-raiser to bring Jesse Jackson. We need a spirtual awakening,'' said Williams.
Other members worry about the state of the NAACP.
The former executive director of the NAACP - Benjamin F. Chavis - was fired in the aftermath of scandal surrounding alleged mismanagement of association funds. Chavis reportedly used NAACP funds for limousine rides and to settle a sexual harassment suit. Myrlie Evers-Williams took over his spot. At a summer national meeting, Evers-Williams said the organization needed to move in a more positive direction.
Mamie Martin-Ross, a Suffolk NAACP member for three years, hopes that signals change for the better.
``I'm hoping this organization will flourish after all the scandal . . .'' She added, with a laugh, ``Maybe, with a woman, it will.''
Harvey Clark, a member for four years, is helping to plan the Suffolk leg for the upcoming Million Man March to Washington, on Oct.16. It will feature Chavis and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Clark hopes others will join his efforts to empower the community. ``We've got a few (leaders),'' he said, ``but it's the same few all the time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Paul C. Gillis, above, president of the Suffolk-Nansemond chapter of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
spoke at a chapter gathering Monday at Coburn Park.
At right, Helen Daughtrey talks with some friends during the NAACP
Suffolk-Nansemond chapter picnic.
NAACP SUFFOLK-NANSEMOND CHAPTER
The Suffolk-Nansemond chapter of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People meets the Monday after the second
Sunday of each month at 7 p.m. at East End Baptist Church annex at
608 East Washington St.
For more information, call 446-8966.
by CNB