NAACP Urged to Take on Irresponsible Companies
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Washington Correspondent
Thursday, July 21, 2005

NAACP leaders say the 96-year-old civil rights organization is holding fast to its historic mission, but some civil rights advocates say it must return to its grassroots activism in order to step up progress for African-Americans.

“The NAACP must go back to the basics of being a grassroots day-to-day civil rights organization and not an institution that puts out press releases, but an institution that can confront, not only government, but also the private sector to live up to its moral obligations,” says Donna Brazile, a respected political strategist who attended the organization’s convention in Milwaukee. “We have to have a parallel strategy to confront all of those with power and influence over our daily lives. It’s time that [corporations] give back and understand that they also play a role in the economic growth and development of the Black community.”

In order to hold private sector businesses accountable, the NAACP must cut some of its corporate ties and become more independent and financed by its own members, says Julia Hare, co-founder of the Black
Think Tank, based in San Francisco.

“We’ll go and we’ll have those conventions and these meetings and have corporations to finance them, the same corporations that you’re going to have to go to and say, ‘Wait a minute, what about your hiring policies? What about your reparations policies?’ says Hare. “We go to the fanciest White hotels to sit inside and discuss Black poverty and White racism and the racists have funded you. No other group would depend on the person they are trying to get their freedom from for sponsorship… Whoever is paying those bills for you, whoever is funding you, they’re going to call the shots and rightfully so.”

Major corporations frequently underwrite the conventions and activities of Black organizations. Among the NAACP corporate sponsors this year were Wachovia Bank, Bank of America, Southland Corporation, Hilton and Marriott.

In the NAACP 2005 Economic Reciprocity Initiative (ERI) industry report cards, released during the convention, the five industries – lodging, telecommunications, financial services, general merchandising and automotive – all earned only average and below average scores. Corporations are graded on Black participation in vending, board of directors, property ownership, and financial giving to Black organizations.

Both Hilton and Marriott, among sponsors of this year’s convention, scored highest among lodging corporations with each receiving only a B-.

Verizon, where new NAACP President and CEO Bruce Gordon won wide acclaim for his Black hiring efforts before his retirement two years ago, got an overall grade of B on the current report card.

Gordon says when he was at Verizon, the corporation got a C on the NAACP corporate report card and he helped to get it up to a B.

Gordon, who begins his new job Aug. 1, says he disagrees with Hare that a corporation can control the NAACP just because it is a corporate sponsor. But there should be repercussions for companies that consistently refuse to respond or do poorly on the corporate report card, he says.

“B” is not a bad grade, it’s just not a good enough grade. So, should I punish a company that consistently
gets Bs? Absolutely not. Why would I do that? Particularly when there are some companies that are getting
poorer grades or not participating,” says Gordon.

“My first priority is addressing the companies that get Fsbecause what they are effectively saying is, ‘We don’t care’…If I find that there’s a company year after year, which refuses to submit a grade or submit information, then that means it’s time to talk to the membership of the organization or talk to the community and tell them that these could very well be companies with whom we should not do business.

” Brazile acknowledges that the NAACP has waged successful boycotts against major corporations, but it’s time to look closer at their dealings with the community and take action. “What I’m doing is saying we can do more than release statements and materials. That’s fine, but that doesn’t get us where we need to go. We have to go back to the old strategy of marching and mobilizing,” Brazile says.

During the civil rights movement, a large part of the street mobilization came from the Black church, working
hand-in-hand with the NAACP. The NAACP must return to partnership to be at its most powerful, says Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree.

“We see Black church leaders sort of going out on their own on many issues and no longer seem to be as
supportive of the NAACP as they did during the civil rights movement,” Ogletree says. “I think the organization
hasn’t understood how important it is to have a direct link with the Black clergy in terms of the members of its board, in terms of to what extent there is some consciousness and spiritual connection that most African-
Americans have as a central part of their lives.”

While NAACP Chairman Julian Bond told the convention audience that the next Supreme Court justice to replace retiring Sandra Day O’Connor will be the highest priority of the NAACP over the next several months, long-time civil rights attorney Thomas Todd says education seems forgotten.

“They talk about all these other things, and that’s good. I don’t have any problems with that, but, the key in this country is still education,” says Todd. “In my opinion, the NAACP needs to return to making education the top priority of its agenda. And in dealing with education, you cut across the whole spectrum. You deal with youth, you deal with Black colleges, you deal with everything else because no matter what has happened in this
country for the vast number of Blacks who have been able to get into a better position for a better life, the key
has been education.”

Among the most important goal for all civil rights organizations must be to connect with the next generation
of civil rights leaders, says Marc.