THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030503
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
NAACP activist Melinease Hutchinson has heard the complaints before: The 86-year-old civil rights organization is outdated. The group should be more militant. It's only looking for government handouts for blacks and the poor.
And last month, the Million Man March, one of the nation's largest demonstrations of social activism, went off beautifully without the NAACP's official sponsorship.
But Hutchinson, who will be giving a seminar today as the statewide NAACP convention begins in Norfolk, said she continues to get a stream of calls from people who are counting on the group to remain vital and strong.
She hears from workers who feel their prospects and pay are limited because of their skin color; Million Man Marchers who want to become more involved in the community and the NAACP; concerned citizens who believe that state and national legislation is slowly eroding the hard-fought rights of the disenfranchised.
``The NAACP has been totally misunderstood,'' said Hutchinson, secretary of the Norfolk chapter.
``It bothers me to no end when I hear people arbitrarily say we are irrelevant. Anyone who can say we are not relevant needs to look at Newt Gingrich and that crew and the assaults on affirmative action. People are beginning to hurt and feel what's going on. . . . The mouths that are being shot off about the NAACP are the ones who don't volunteer.''
The 60th annual Virginia State NAACP Conference is expected to bring hundreds to the Howard Johnson Hotel in downtown Norfolk this weekend. In a series of workshops today and Saturday, participants will discuss issues ranging from youth involvement to economic empowerment.
The keynote speaker Saturday night will be Myrlie Evers-Williams, chairwoman of the national board of directors of the NAACP. Evers-Williams is the widow of activist Medger Evers, who was assassinated while working as a field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during the 1960s.
A priority of the convention will be to discuss where the state and local branches must direct their energy in the years to come.
The local branches are planning voter-registration drives for the 1996 elections. In the past year, they've been active in the debates over welfare, minority hiring and housing. They believe, however, that their work has been lost in negative headlines surrounding problems within the national organization.
Last year, the national NAACP faced a $4 million deficit and a cutoff of corporate contributions after allegations that former chairman William Gibson and fired executive director Benjamin Chavis mismanaged funds.
Because Chavis was executive director of the Million Man March and he and the NAACP are involved in litigation, the NAACP was not asked to help with the march. While many NAACP members participated in the march Oct. 16, outsiders saw the national organization's lack of involvement as a sign of its wilting power and necessity.
``The national NAACP was never asked to join, be a sponsor or participant,'' said Salim Khalfani, branch and field activities coordinator for the state convention.
``On the local levels, our members had the right to participate, help, organize, but we wouldn't use NAACP money. The national was in agreement with many of the tenets of the march. The executive director was there, I was there. We didn't see it as a problem.''
The march has been a boon to the NAACP.
In the wake of the gathering that brought hundreds of thousands of African-American men together in a day of unity, local NAACP branches have been inundated with calls from marchers wanting to become members.
Paul Gillis, president of the Suffolk branch of the NAACP, said callers have expressed interest in organizing a mini-march of men and women in Suffolk. The branch might consider an adoption program similar to Norfolk's, one aimed at prisoners.
``As I visualize it, we'll build a list of black males and females and connect them with inmates who don't have visitors or family members,'' said Gillis, who works as a counselor at Southampton Correctional Center.
``We hope to connect them to encourage that individual to rehabilitate himself. Rehabilitation won't happen unless that individual dedicates to rehabilitate himself.''
Membership in the Norfolk branch of the NAACP has grown to 1,500. Statewide, there are more than a hundred adult branches and more than 40 for college and youth groups.
The state convention, which coordinates Virginia's branches, is self-supporting and receives no funding from the national group. NAACP leaders say the time is ripe for more people to get involved.
``The NAACP is needed now more than at its inception,'' Hutchinson said. ``A lot of people sat back, got their nice little jobs and moved away from those people, but we're going to have to get back in the boat. . . . We started out to erase discrimination in all areas of life, to help with voter registration, voter education - that hasn't changed. They keep us fighting all the time.'' by CNB