In a rare moment, Carl Laster, (left) treasurer of the local branch, and Alderman Michael Shield who is serving his first-two year term as president, shares information during a Mayor’s forum at the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center. Organization insiders say that the two are heavily at odds over the branches finances and by-laws processors.
Nearly 24 months ago, Michael Shields took the reins of the local branch of the NAACP and has tried to work through an internal rift. Last week he told his executive committee members at the monthly meeting that as president he was kind of disappointed and warned that members needed to learn to work together.
The Racine branch, which has spanned over seven decades, has faced a split in the organization based on the perception of Shields leadership style. Shields, who has been a city Alderman for 12 two-year terms, says he is not inclusive enough and operates outside of the organization’s committee structure.
Jerry Ann Hamilton, president of Milwaukee branch, is no stranger to problems of being the leader of a large metropolitan branch of the oldest civil rights organization in the country. “As president you have to run the organization,” she said by phone. Stepping down after 12 years as president, Hamilton said that it’s important that branches give their president flexibility. “What can you do if you can’t make some type of decisions.”
Shields troubles are believed to have begun when he made comments in the Racine Journal Times recently about a report alleging city leaders conspired to keep African-American businesses out of Downtown Racine. People with knowledge of the Downtown Racine report, titled "Sun City, Sister City or Gaza on Lake Michigan: A Report on the State of Racine's Downtown," said little input was taken from NAACP members or its executive committee, and that it was written and distributed by a small group operating under the organization's name, but without the organization's support. However, up to now, the group has not formally rebutted the claims in the report.
One member of the executive committee said she had received calls from both her White and Black friends and was upset over the way the report was written. Some people from the city government showed their distaste for the report and considered it inflammatory. "After investigation and talks with both downtown officers and officials within the Racine Police Department, it has become clear to the NAACP that a good downtown Racine is viewed as a white downtown," is one example sited in the NAACP report.
The report struck enough anger among some members that a whistle-blower insider the organization released minutes as well as e-mails between executive board members. Finding out who turned the information over to the Racine Post, a local blog site, has become an obsession of Shields and his supporters. In an executive meeting last Thursday, the RacinePost reported that an informant inside the meeting, reported the committee voted to spend up to $500 for an investigator to find out who leaked to the RacinePost. The money would be spent on investigative services to find out who accused the committee of inappropriate behavior, the insider said. “I will get to the bottom of this,” Shields said during the meeting.
But the internal rift is not isolated to the Racine branch. At 82, Rufus Brooks is old enough to know better. He's been a member of the NAACP since he was 16. He served as president of the Orange County branch. He's a respected educator and civil rights activist.
But when he publicly criticized branch president Rev. Randolph Bracy Jr. during an Orange County school desegregation hearing earlier in May, he violated an unspoken rule within the NAACP: never air internal differences. In doing so, he gave voice to those inside the organization who have complained about Bracy's style of leadership, while antagonizing Bracy's many supporters.
"Mr. Brooks knows that's not how we do business in the NAACP," said Beverlye Neal, a Bracy supporter.
But how does the NAACP do business? More important is the question, “How does the NAACP do business in Racine?” By phone, an officer in the branch said that we need to be about civil rights and stop the internal strife. However, he feels it will be hard to move forward with mistrust sitting in the room, he suggests.
I agree and feel that there are a number of civil rights issues in Racine that need to be addressed rather than where the leak may exist on the board. After all the NAACP is not a clandestine group that needs to hold secrets from its membership. In fact the successfulness of the NAACP has been it openness to its membership as well as the public.
We hope that these disagreements among members of the NAACP can be set aside for the good of the prolonged existence of the organization.
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