The recent resignation of Bruce Gordon as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People reopened the debate about the future of the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.
The conversation on that issue has for years taken several different paths. Historians and general observers cite education, health care and economic empowerment among the top issues for Black America. Most say the NAACP has yet to take a proactive stance on the subjects.
But all agree: The NAACP has a future.
What kind is still uncertain.
“It would be impossible for us not to have an NAACP, and it would be a bad move for us not to,” says R. L’Heureux Lewis, a doctoral candidate in sociology and public policy at the University of Michigan. “The question is how do we make it more relevant to the conditions Black folks face in 2007?”
Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, was an unusual choice for president when he was selected in the summer of 2005. His corporate background differed greatly from that of many of the organizations past presidents, who had been political or religious leaders, or rose to prominence in the civil rights movement.
Gordon, coming from a business background, sought the bottom line. And in several interviews since his resignation, said he tried to figure out what Blacks needed from the group.
