[AKA2D '91]

Human Events OnLine


NAACP Head Mfume Didn't Retire, He Was Booted Out

by Armstrong Williams
Posted Dec 6, 2004

Don't believe the well scripted press conference where former
President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, Kweisi Mfume, announced his
resignation. Mfume did not resign from the nation's oldest and most
prestigious civil rights organization. He was kicked out, following a
long simmering feud with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond.

The two began feuding after Mfume nominated National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice for his 2003 NAACP Image Award. Furious that Mfume
was reaching out to the Bush administration, Bond responded by
nominating "Boondocks" cartoonist Aaron McGruder for his Image Award.
McGruder had ridiculed Rice in his comic strip and later called her a
"murderer" for her role in the war in Iraq.

The rift grew as Mfume continued to reach out to the Republican Party.
Mfume realized that by reflexively voting Democrat in every election,
the black voting populace has given away most of their political
bartering power. After all, what incentive is there for either party
to go out on a limb for blacks, if it is taken for granted that blacks
will automatically vote Democrat? In effect, the black voting populace
has created conditions that make it very easy for both parties to take
them for granted. Mfume rightly reasoned that by reaching out to the
Republican Party on issues that they already agree with -- like
empowering faith based charities, supporting school vouchers, etc. --
the black voting populace can send the message that they're no longer
willing to blindly support the Democrats. Faced with the prospect of
fleeing voters, the Democrats would be forced to make new overtures.
This competition, in turn, would instill both parties with a sense of
urgency for addressing those issues that black Americans routinely
rate as their chief concerns. This competitive pressure would provide
the black voting populace with increased political options -- and
increased bartering power. Somehow this point was lost on Bond, who
dug in his heels with mind numbing intransigence. Over the next year
and a half, the rift became unmendable.

Ironically, it was Bond who handpicked Mfume to lead the organization
in 1995. At the time, the NAACP was foundering amidst charges of
sexual harassment and economic improprieties. "We were four and a half
million dollars in debt. We had scandal in the organization. Our very
existence was threatened," recalls NAACP chairman, Julian Bond.
"Kweisi Mfume was the last person we interviewed," continued Bond.
"When he walked in the room, you could just see people thinking, we've
got our man."

Mfume promptly set about cutting the organization's employee base,
raising money, and organizing overtly political coalitions. Within
five years, the debt was gone and the NAACP was widely regarded as the
most powerful political pressure group in the country. They alone had
the ability to galvanize fifty million black votes. Members of the
press found it all dazzling. "Mfume not only has righted the ship, he
also has set it on a new course," fawned USA Today columnist DeWayne
Wickam.

Bond and Mfume essentially partnered with the Democratic Party to
revitalize the organization. Not surprisingly, the rhetoric coming out
of the NAACP became increasingly partisan. During a speech before
2,000 attendees at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New
Orleans, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond proclaimed that President George
W. Bush has "selected [political] nominees from the Taliban wing of
American politics, appeased the wretched appetites of the extreme
right wing and chosen cabinet officials whose devotion to confederacy
is nearly canine in its uncritical affection." During a 2003
appearance at the National Press Club, Bond referred to the Republican
Party as "a crazed swarm of right wing locusts" that have sought to
"subvert, ignore, defy and destroy the laws that require an America
which is bias-free," Later that night Bond dubbed the Republicans,
"the white people's party."

Following the event, Mfume confronted Bond with his fear that the
organization had become too outwardly political. Soon thereafter, the
IRS launched investigation into whether Bond's remarks violated the
organization's tax exempt status.

The final tear came after the election. Mfume suggested sending a
letter to President Bush, mapping out ways that they could work
together to help the community. Bond rejected the idea. Mfume sent the
letter anyway. To Bond, this was an unforgivable. A few weeks later,
Bond had Mfume voted out. The message was clear: There is no room
within the NAACP for intellectual diversity. Just loyal servitude to
the Democratic Party.

This is a crime. This is a shame. This is the sad state of the
nation's most storied civil rights organization.