Prometheus 6

When I was offered a copy of Bruce Gordon's email to the national board of the N.A.A.C.P., I agreed to the anonymity thing because I wanted to know more of what actually happened. I came away wondering how deep the schism in the national board is.

Afro-Netizen got the email too, and has a bit of follow-up

“We have only had five CEOs in 60 years – a good record for non-profit organizations. Roy Wilkins served for 22 years; Benjamin Hooks for nearly 20 years until he reached retirement age. Benjamin Chavis served for two years; he was dismissed.

For the record, this was the point when the N.A.A.C.P. lost the support of so many Black progressives that it became a generational problem. Going from Chaves' attempt to connect the organization with existing grassroots organizations to a protest about the lack of Black actors on prime-time TV was too jarring a shift.

Kweisi Mfume served for nine years before retiring at the end of his third contract, and Mr. Gordon served only 19 months. Each transition has been orderly and well managed as the NAACP Board expects this one to be. No recent NAACP CEO reported to the full Board; rather, they reported to a small Executive Committee.

But this one caught my attention.

The conversation I'm hearing is all beefing with the N.A.A.C.P., though to be honest most of them were but so happy with it to begin with. The suggestions always...and I mean always...start with "cut down the size of the 64 member board." Hell, I said it. But...

No recent NAACP CEO reported to the full Board; rather, they reported to a small Executive Committee.

to me that means the size of the board isn't an issue, that something else is going on. And this

It is standard procedure in every organization for the Board to set policy and for the CEO to implement it and standard policy for the Board to supervise the CEO.

...is actually kind of true. I've asked before just what he was told when he was hired, and by whom.

At minimum I needed to read that email in conjunction with the N.A.A.C.P. list of Executive Committee members. Problem is, I couldn't do that. The Leadership page lists National Board Officers (Julian Bond, Roslyn M. Brock, Francisco L. Borges, Dennis Courtland Hayes), the Leadership Council (Dennis Courtland Hayes, Angela Ciccolo, J. Linloy Cox, Rev. Nelson B. Rivers, III, Dr. John H. Jackson, Esq., Georgia A. Noone, Hilary O. Shelton, Vic Bulluck), the Special Contribution Fund chair (Roy L. Williams) and a link to a page listing the rest of the National Board.

No Executive Committee. Participants in the memo, Julian "Chairman" Bond, Vice Chair Brock, Dennis Hayes, Bill Lucy, Leon Russell, Rupert Richardson, Hazel Dukes, Phil Murphy and Bishop Graves would appear to be members. Add the two Executive Board members who are nowhere in the narrative and Bruce Gordon himself and that's a twelve person board...plus eight Leadership Council non-participants. I think we reinstitute the "board too big" complaint.