Evers-Williams Urges NAACP to Fight Challenges to Its 86 Years of Triumphs

MINNEAPOLIS — In her first keynote address to the NAACP annual convention, Chairwoman Myrlie Evers-Williams urged members Sunday night to fight challenges to the group’s triumphs over the last 86 years.

There has never been a more critical need for the NAACP, Evers-Williams told a crowd of about 3,000 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

“We work in an environment filled with paranoia, doubt and despair, all of which beckon the storm clouds of divisiveness, fear, scapegoating and racism,” she said. “When the nation is in distress, racism rears its ugly head.”

She cited the recent Supreme Court rulings on federal affirmative action programs and voting districts, which NAACP leaders consider attacks on past civil rights advances.

Evers-Williams, widow of slain NAACP organizer Medgar Evers, was elected to chair the nation’s oldest civil rights organization by a one-vote margin in February over 10-year incumbent William Gibson.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has been plagued by financial problems and infighting over the past year. Evers-Williams told members to stop the “backbiting . . . that has caused us to lose sight of our goal.”

NAACP leaders have launched an emergency campaign to save the group, she said. The mission is to rebuild financial strength, restore credibility and double the number of members and supporters.

Before Evers-Williams’ speech, people lined up to donate money. The group is $3.8 million in debt.

She said the greatest strength of the Baltimore-based organization is at the grass-roots level.

Evers-Williams said the group needs to register a record number of voters and get more people to vote.

Speaking to reporters earlier Sunday, Evers-Williams and Earl T. Shinhoster, acting executive director of the NAACP, previewed a convention workshop on voter participation.

“The power is in the vote,” Evers-Williams said. “It’s going to be important to get out and vote for local elections and state elections, as well as federal.”

Statistics show that many blacks don’t vote. More than 7 million blacks who are eligible to vote are not registered, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.