The NAACP at a Difficult Crossroads : Leadership must decide what to do about Benjamin Chavis’ troubled tenure

Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.--and the civil rights organization he leads and deeply loves--is in trouble. Whether or not he did anything wrong, and he says he didn’t, Chavis and the NAACP can’t escape the fallout from a former employee’s accusations of sexual discrimination against an organization founded to fight discrimination and from questions about the use of NAACP funds.

Doubts about his leadership have been exacerbated by reports of a secret $332,000 settlement made without the knowledge of the board of directors to a woman who worked a scant five weeks for the NAACP. If Chavis did nothing wrong, what did he have to hide? This expenditure is even more controversial because the NAACP currently faces a $3-million deficit and concerns about its bookkeeping and spending.

The questions about Chavis’ judgment are not isolated. His leadership has also come under attack because he invited Louis Farrakhan, the black separatist hatemonger, to an NAACP leadership summit. His inclusion of Farrakhan disturbed some traditional backers of the NAACP, including an older, more conservative generation of black Americans who pledge allegiance to integration, part of the group’s original mission. Farrakhan’s participation also offended some Jewish and other white supporters who pointed out that the NAACP’s founders and continuing benefactors include Jews and other whites.

To his credit Chavis energized a moribund NAACP, boosted membership and reached out to alienated young blacks who did not feel they had reaped the benefits of the civil rights movement. Can he and the NAACP recover from his cumulative troubles? Is it not in fact time for new leadership?

When the board meets in Baltimore on Saturday the directors must take firm steps, starting at the top, to restore confidence in the nation’s oldest and most important civil rights organization. Neither the executive director nor any other official can operate like a lone ranger, secretly committing hundreds of thousands of the organization’s dollars. Such actions break faith with the board, the 675,000 members and the legions who fund the fight for equal rights.

On matters of race and equality, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has provided the moral conscience for this nation since its founding by fair-minded whites and activist blacks in 1909. Though its accomplishments are legend, the NAACP’s work is not done. It must not be destroyed, and its reputation must not be put in jeopardy. If the board decides that Chavis must go, few will be surprised; and the decision would not be wrong.