Disappointment with local NAACP spurs new chapter effort
Social Justice
Concerns Fuel startup of new county NAACP
BY DEREK DIXON, RDP
CORRESPONDENT
A core
of civic activists is working to create a second National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter in Northeast Ohio. Their goal is
to create a Cuyahoga Branch of the NAACP that would co-exist and hopefully
collaborate with the long-established Cleveland branch.
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Attendees at information session re formation of a Cuyahoga
County NAACP branch meet at the County Library branch
on Green Rd. in South Euclid.
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About 35
people, including several with notable community activism resumes, met last
night at the county library’s South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch on Green Road to
discuss formation of a county-based NAACP chapter.
After an
introductory summary of the NAACP’s storied local history, Dick Peery voiced
the type of non-partisan support the activists want to build upon. “I am not
here representing the Cleveland branch. I am only here as an individual,” said
Dick Peery, noted former Plain Dealer reporter and political activist. “Any
time people want to do the right work, and especially younger people, I want to
do whatever I can to encourage it.”
Peery is
a current executive committee member of the Cleveland NAACP.
Leading
the new effort is Cassandra McDonald, a recent law school graduate who says she
is currently pursuing a doctorate in law at Walden University. She explained
the rationale for an NAACP local reboot during last night’s meeting. “Some of you might get a little uncomfortable
about the things I might say, but I believe the truth shall set us free,” she
said.
“I sat
back and waited and watched, then waited and watched again while all our
children — my children — were dying. They were dying not just dying because of gun
violence and murder, but because of racism, hatred, ignorance, and a lack of
love and support, and souls that were lost.
I watched and waited for consistent advocacy against gentrification,
against the school-to-prison pipeline, against mass incarceration, against
educational disparities in the urban communities, against self-serving
politicians trying to interfere with our right to vote, against poor race
relations, against discrimination of those who identify as LGBTQ, against
gender discrimination, and I got tired of sitting and waiting. So I got up and
took a stand,” McDonald said.
The
Cleveland chapter, despite electing a new leadership team about two years ago
and initiating an ongoing membership growth and retention campaign, has not
attracted the necessary grassroots support to respond effectively in the eyes
of many to the area’s most critical civil rights issues. Many citizens were
dismayed at the Cleveland NAACP’s support of the Quicken Loans Arena expansion
for what seemed to some a [cheap] payoff of $25,000 from Dan Gilbert, owner of
the Q’s principal tenant, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cleveland
NAACP chapter president Michael Nelson is currently campaigning for election to
Cleveland Municipal Court.
A panel
presentation at the meeting featured East Cleveland-based telecommunications
consultant Zakee Rashid, ex-offender employment advocate Louis Hawkins, Kent
State University NAACP founder Dr. Richard Montgomery, anti-racism activist
Robert M. Korecky, Minister Ray Greene, and Cleveland chapter Black Lives
Matter member Kareem Henton.
Each
expressed gratitude for the past work of the Cleveland NAACP chapter while
acknowledging widespread perceptions that dissension had set in and new blood
is needed.
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| Cassandra McDonald and Zakee Rashid |
“We
appreciate what the NAACP has done in our past and for our future,” said
Hawkins, who aligned with McDonald around the still-smoldering issue of deadly
force by the City of Euclid police that resulted in the death of Luke Stewart
on March 13. That issue was further stoked by the recent automobile stop by
Euclid police that ended in the public assault of a motorist recorded on a
citizen's cell phone video.
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| Robert Korecky, left, and Kareem Henton |
“But
what I’ve heard people say is ‘Where is the relevancy (in the Cleveland chapter)?
Is there relevancy today?’,” said Rashid. He noted the need for a renewed focus
toward economic empowerment. “(Minorities) cannot continue, I think, in America
to just sustain by looking for jobs. We
have to start looking for ownership, primary responsibility, and general
contracting as much as anybody else in this country,” he stated. “Especially in Cuyahoga County, looking at
the numbers, we should realistically be able to bid on any contract coming up, particularly
in a project like the Q. I mean, our
people were not even figured into that process. So I think that by joining a
new organization where there are some new ideas … we can be walking through the
process from beginning all the way to the end, instead of running from the end
and asking for some crumbs after everybody else has divided up the pie.”
Henton,
of Black Lives Matter, who is also a member of the Cleveland NAACP, also offered
his support for a county NAACP. “I have
a reminiscent respect for some of the pioneering organizations that really did
a lot for us in the past… But we didn’t get to the place we are right now
because they’ve been doing their job well.” He said that too often an advocate
for a social cause on the public scene “is often a member of a particular
board” whose mission undermines that same greater cause.
Near the
meeting’s end, after this reporter’s departure, longtime NAACP Cleveland
attorney and near-perpetual top Cleveland branch officer James Hardiman
appeared. A heated debate ensued during which Hardiman reportedly questioned
the authority of those assembled to form a new branch. Pre-publication attempts to reach Hardiman by phone and email for comment were unsuccessful.
Afterward,
McDonald held a Q&A session. She said that questions about funding for the
organization would be answered at a later time.
She also pointed out that the minimum required membership number was
“very close”, but not yet achieved.
McDonald gained some local notoriety last year when she ran for the Ohio House of Representatives as a Republican. After she lost, she announced that she was a Democrat.
Membership
dues for all NAACP chapters start at $30. Those wishing to join the new branch
or seeking more information can reach McDonald at 216.245.2115 or email her at
NAACPCuyahoga@gmail.com.
R. T. Andrews contributed to the reporting of this article.
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Endorsement Report
• The
Cuyahoga Women’s Democratic Caucus updated its report to add its endorsement of
longtime Collinwood area councilman Mike
Polensek in Cleveland Ward 8. CWDC chief Cindy Demsey indicated in an email
that Polensek had been inadvertently omitted.
Voting starts next week
The last day to
register is October 10. Early voting begins next week, starting Oct. 11.
Election day is November 5.
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