Jealous to become NAACP’s new president, CEO
Graduate of Columbia University and Rhodes Scholar will be youngest national leader in organization’s history
- | Sun reporter
- 8:35 AM EDT, May 17, 2008
A 35-year-old human rights activist with family ties to Baltimore will become the NAACP‘s new president and chief executive officer, the board of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization voted early this morning.
Benjamin Todd Jealous, a graduate of Columbia University and a Rhodes Scholar, will become the youngest national leader in the 99-year history of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“I’m excited to take the helm of the NAACP,” he said early yesterday. “I believe in the urgent need for strong civil rights institutions and strong black institutions in general.”
But the NAACP’s 64-member board was not united in its selection of Jealous. The vote, which came after an arduous eight-hour closed-door meeting that ended close to 3 a.m. at the Westin Baltimore International Airport hotel, came as some members complained they were shut out of the selection process.
Jealous, however, received key support from NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond.
During the meeting, Jealous gave lengthy presentation to board members, after which each member was permitted to ask him a question. That portion of the meeting lasted three hours and from time to time, loud applause could be heard outside the closed meeting room. When Jealous emerged from the conference room, he said the interaction with board members “went really well. Fabulous.”
“When you have 64 people, you will always have many opinions,” he said. “But judging from the applause and the questions, I think most people felt very good about me.”
Jealous has spent the last six years in leadership positions with advocacy roles, including three years as director of Amnesty International’s U.S. Human Rights Program, and most recently as president of the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, which supports social justice organizations. Before that, he spent three years as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization of 200 black-owned community newspapers.
In an interview with The Sun, Jealous expressed an admiration of the NAACP, an organization he said his family has supported for five generations.
“I’ve spent my entire life in this movement,” he said. “I was raised to believe that there is no greater calling than to serve your people in the cause of justice. That is how I have spent my life. I have no higher ambitions.”
Although he grew up in Pacific Grove, Calif., Jealous spent summers at his grandparents’ home in Baltimore’s Ashburton neighborhood, where his family was active in the Baltimore NAACP. Jealous’ mother, who is black, was among the first students to desegregate Western High School in 1955, he said. His father, who is white, took part in sit-ins to desegregate Baltimore lunch counters, Jealous said.
He takes the helm at the NAACP during a critical time in its nearly 100-year history. The organization has struggled to increase membership, raise money and battle critics who question if the organization can remain relevant in the post-civil rights era.
Jealous said he will make financial stability a priority for the organization and plans to use his personal relationships with top foundations around the country to build fund-raising. He said he will also focus on supporting the NAACP’s nearly 2,000 local units across the country and on using technology more effectively to “pull people into this movement.”
He points to his youth as an asset in recruiting new members and said he thinks he can work to create consensus among the board’s various factions.
The most recent president and CEO, Bruce S. Gordon, resigned abruptly in March 2007, following clashes with the board. He had spent 19 months at the helm.
Gordon said he and the board could not come to an agreement on a vision for the organization. His departure surprised and frustrated board members, who had unanimously selected the former Verizon executive with great fanfare, noting his long corporate resume should boost fundraising.
Several months after Gordon’s departure, the organization revealed significant financial troubles, forcing leadership to cut the staff at the NAACP’s Baltimore headquarters by about 40 percent through attrition and layoffs. Leaders also announced the temporary closing of seven regional offices, a move that upset local chapter officers, who complained that without the regional offices, members were losing a vital conduit to the national office. The financial problems derailed a plan to move the organization’s headquarters from northwest Baltimore to Washington D.C.
Earlier this year, Bond said a huge fundraising campaign helped shrink last year’s $3 million deficit to less than $300,000.
Despite that progress, a group of a dozen dissident board members calling itself “Leadership of Conscience” tried unsuccessfully to unseat Bond, and complained that the president’s search was an example of how the NAACP is ruled by an elite inner circle that is out of touch with its grass roots.
Last year, the NAACP recruited a 15-member search committee made up of activists, scholars and eight board members. The panel named three finalists to the board’s 17-member executive committee, led by Bond.
According to syndicated columnist George E. Curry, the other finalists for the top post included Alvin Brown, 37, a senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton; and the Rev. Frederick D. Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.
kelly.brewington@baltsun.com
I am in need of the NAACP to help my son. Today in Millersvill, MD he pulled into a BP GAS station (he works for Verizon) and was told he could not buy anything and the man litterly kicked him off the property. He attempted to get gas for his Verizon Truck and they even cut the pump off. This is total discrimination and I am in need of a civil rights attorney to help him. I can be reached: 202-409-3559 or my son Marcus Andrews 410-476-7069 This is a total outrage and I would appreciate someone calling us back this happened today 6/19/08 @ 1:30 PM
Why doesn’t the NAACP do something to help eliminate the tax breaks companies receive for doing business out of the country. Also, what about all the products sold in the U.S. expecially from China.
There would be more Americans employed and our economy would be better if jobs were in this country and products were made and sold here
Why doesn’t the NAACP do something to eliminate the tax breaks received by U.S. companies doing business out of the country.
Also, why is it difficult to buy products that are made in America?
Shirley Sherrod debacle:
Vilsack said in a statement early Wednesday morning that he will
“conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts” about his
decision to ask Shirley Sherrod to resign.
Tom Vilsack needs to reinstate Shirley Sherrod immediately or be sacked for wanton and reckless disregard for traditional common sense regulation that requires investigations and screening of information, prior to jumping to conclusions. His action is the typical behaviors of gullible incompetents who should not be allowed to masquerade as heads of departments. Heads should roll also at the NAACP and possible the White House for the same reasons. A law suit may also be in order against all parties involved including the news mongering culprits at Fox.
Rachel at MSNBC asked “Who next”. The obvious answer is the “Decider” himself. A Chief who exhibits a pattern of endorsing such rash decisions will soon fall on his own sword. We expect a higher standard of due diligence from a former law professor.
I hope you review this… I have sent several notices to the NAACP and have not heard back… is there any justice and in 2012 should this be happening…
Good morning, on yesterday, January 16, 2012 after dropping my mother in North Carolina, I was driving back to Maryland and there were two cars in front of me and one car behind me… we were driving at a rate of 70mph or a little higher (all of us)… while driving we passed a police car stationed on the left and the two cars ahead of me pulled over, unfortunately I could not due to traffic in the right lane… the car behind me then pulled over and I pulled over behind him.
The police then driving at a high rate of speed behind me and signaled for me to pull over and I did. The officer came to the passenger side of my car and asked “Why was I speeding”? I stated that I was not speeding, I was going 70mph and even as I passed him a way back I looked to make sure… He repeated “you were speeding” and I stated that if I was speeding then the two cars in front of me and the car behind me as we passed you a while back had to also be speeding, so why was I the only one pulled over? For that there was no response…
He asked me for my driver’s license and registration and I gave him my driver’s license, registration and union card, he gave me back the union card and stated “I do not want this” he went to his car and came back with a ticket, I told him that I was not excepting the ticket and yes I did wrinkle it up… he stated that “if you threw it out I will give you a ticket for littering”… as he was walking away he stated “All you niggers are just alike” and yes after that statement I did call him an asshole and drove off…
The officer then followed me for about 3-4 minutes, during that time I called 911… I was told to pull over and see if there was a number on the ticket to call and I told the operator that I would not pull over because I did not want any problems and I was already called a racist name, and I did not want him to lie about any other made-up charges and for real I was a little afraid and sadden that this could actually happen on Dr. MLK holiday – so I was just trying to drive out of NC as quick and safe as possible…
Once in Virginia, I pulled into a gas station, but there was no number to call for a complaint…
The citation number is 972547E and the racist officer name is J.T. Mitchell number 2793
I have copied the NAACP, because I plan to pursue this issue – I would like the ticket dismissed and a apology…