NAACP Urged To Take On Irresponsible Companies

By Hazel Trice EdneyNNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – NAACP leaders say the 96-year-old civil rights organization is holding fast to its historic mission, but some civil rights advocates say it must return to its grassroots activism in order to step up progress for African-Americans. “The NAACP must go back to the basics of being a grassroots day-to-day civil rights organization and not an institution that puts out press releases, but an institution that can confront, not only government, but also the private sector to live up to its moral obligations,” says Donna Brazile, a respected political strategist who attended the organization’s convention in Milwaukee. “We have to have a parallel strategy to confront all of those with power and influence over our daily lives. It’s time that [corporations] give back and understand that they also play a role in the economic growth and development of the Black community.” In order to hold private sector businesses accountable, the NAACP must cut some of its corporate ties and become more independent and financed by its own members, says Julia Hare, co-founder of the Black Think Tank, based in San Francisco. “We’ll go and we’ll have those conventions and these meetings and have corporations to finance them, the same corporations that you’re going to have to go to and say, ‘Wait a minute, what about your hiring policies? What about your reparations policies?’ says Hare. “We go to the fanciest White hotels to sit inside and discuss Black poverty and White racism and the racists have funded you. No other group would depend on the person they are trying to get their freedom from for sponsorship…Whoever is paying those bills for you, whoever is funding you, they’re going to call the shots and rightfully so.” Major corporations frequently underwrite the conventions and activities of Black organizations. Among the NAACP corporate sponsors this year were Wachovia Bank, Bank of America, Southland Corporation, Hilton and Marriott. In the NAACP 2005 Economic Reciprocity Initiative (ERI) industry report cards, released during the convention, the five industries – lodging, telecommunications, financial services, general merchandising and automotive – all earned only average and below average scores. Corporations are graded on Black participation in vending, board of directors, property ownership, and financial giving to Black organizations. Both Hilton and Marriott, among sponsors of this year’s convention, scored highest among lodging corporations with each receiving only a B-. Verizon, where new NAACP President and CEO Bruce Gordon won wide acclaim for his Black hiring efforts before his retirement two years ago, got an overall grade of B on the current report card. Gordon says when he was at Verizon, the corporation got a C on the NAACP corporate report card and he helped to get it up to a B. Gordon, who begins his new job Aug. 1, says he disagrees with Hare that a corporation can control the NAACP just because it is a corporate sponsor. But there should be repercussions for companies that consistently refuse to respond or do poorly on the corporate report card, he says. “B” is not a bad grade, it’s just not a good enough grade. So, should I punish a company that consistently gets Bs? Absolutely not. Why would I do that? Particularly when there are some companies that are getting poorer grades or not participating,” says Gordon. “My first priority is addressing the companies that get Fs because what they are effectively saying is, ‘We don’t care’…If I find that there’s a company year after year, which refuses to submit a grade or submit information, then that means it’s time to talk to the membership of the organization or talk to the community and tell them that these could very well be companies with whom we should not do business.” Brazile acknowledges that the NAACP has waged successful boycotts against major corporations, but it’s time to look closer at their dealings with the community and take action. “What I’m doing is saying we can do more than release statements and materials. That’s fine, but that doesn’t get us where we need to go. We have to go back to the old strategy of marching and mobilizing,” Brazile says. During the civil rights movement, a large part of the street mobilization came from the Black church, working hand-in-hand with the NAACP. The NAACP must return to partnership to be at its most powerful, says Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. “We see Black church leaders sort of going out on their own on many issues and no longer seem to be as supportive of the NAACP as they did during the civil rights movement,” Ogletree says. “I think the organization hasn’t understood how important it is to have a direct link with the Black clergy in terms of the members of its board, in terms of to what extent there is some consciousness and spiritual connection that most African-Americans have as a central part of their lives.” While NAACP Chairman Julian Bond told the convention audience that the next Supreme Court justice to replace retiring Sandra Day O’Connor will be the highest priority of the NAACP over the next several months, long-time civil rights attorney Thomas Todd says education seems forgotten. “They talk about all these other things, and that’s good. I don’t have any problems with that, but, the key in this country is still education,” says Todd. “In my opinion, the NAACP needs to return to making education the top priority of its agenda. And in dealing with education, you cut across the whole spectrum. You deal with youth, you deal with Black colleges, you deal with everything else because no matter what has happened in this country for the vast number of Blacks who have been able to get into a better position for a better life, the key has been education.” Among the most important goal for all civil rights organizations must be to connect with the next generation of civil rights leaders, says Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “We have to connect with an emerging generation, speak to their needs, to their hopes, speak to their aspirations. That is our most important challenge.” Morial says civil rights groups must also work together. “It’s not just the NAACP and the Urban League. You’ve got to look at all of the African-American historic institutions, churches, colleges and universities, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the newer organizations out there mainly working at the local levels,” Morial says. “You’ve got to look at all of these comprehensively as a part of a movement or a part of a network that has helped to bring about change in this nation.” Unlike the NAACP, Morial has enjoyed a warmer relationship with the Bush White House, leading to the president’s appearance at last year’s NUL convention and Morial’s frequent appearances at White House functions. Although former NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume visited Bush at the White House in January, Bond complained again this year that Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover in 1933 not to speak to the NAACP convention. Some believe a reconnection with the White House will also be key to the NAACP’s future power. “Right now, it’s clear that the NAACP is out of favor with the Republican Party in the White House. President Bush once again decided not to go to the convention in Milwaukee,” says Ogletree. “I think the new leadership has to find a way to continue what Kweisi Mfume started. That is to start a dialogue with members of the Republican Party to further the mission of all Americans.” Hare disagrees. She says, “They’re very angry that George Bush did not come. Many of the masses of the people are angry that you even invited him.”