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Page A6
May 21. 2008
NAACP Picks New Leader
Youngest in
civil rights
group's history
(AP) - The NAACP has
chosen lifelong activist Ben Jeal­
ous as its next president, the
youngest in the 99-year history
of the nation's largest civil rights
organization.
The 64-member board of the
National Association for the Ad­
vancement of Colored People
formally announced its decision
at a news conference Saturday
in Baltimore after meeting and
voting the day before.
Though he is not a politician,
ministerorcivil rights icon, Jeal­
ous, 35, provides the organiza­
tion with a young but connected
chief familiar with black leader­
ship and social justice issues.
He takes the helm as the
NAACP’s 17th president just
months before the organization's
centennial anniversary, and as
the group grapples with dwin­
dling membership and looks to
boost its coffers.
"There are a small number of
groups to whom all black people
in this country owe a debt of
gratitude, and the NAACP is
Ben Jealous, the newly elected president of the NAACP, speaks outside the organization's head­
quarters in Baltimore, Md.
one of them," Jealous said.
"There is work that is undone.
... The need continues and our
children continue to be at great
risk in this country."
Jealous succeeds Bruce Gor­
don, who resigned abruptly in
March 2007. Gordon left after
19 months, citing clashes with
board members over manage­
ment style and the NAACP's
mission as his reasons for leav­
ing. Dennis Courtland Hayes
had been serving as interim presi­
dent and chief executive of-
ficer.
Jealous was born in Pacific
Grove, Calif., and educated a,
Columbia University and Ox­
ford University, where he was a
Rhodes Scholar.
He began his professional life
in 1991 with the NAACP, where
he worked as a community or­
ganizer with the Legal Defense
Fund working on issues of health
care access in Harlem. His fam­
ily boasts five generations of
NAACP membership.
During the mid-1990s, Jeal-
ous was managing editor of the
Jackson Advocate, Mississippi's
oldest black newspaper.
From 1999 to 2002, Jealous
led the country's largest group
of black community newspa­
pers as executive director of the
National Newspaper Publish­
ers Association.
Jealous left the Publishers
Association for Amnesty Inter­
national to direct its U.S. Hu­
man Rights Program, for which
he successfully lobbied for fed­
eral legislation against prison
rape, public disapproval of ra­
cial profiling after Sept. 11, and
exposure of widespread sen­
tencing of children to life in
prison without the possibility of
parole.
Since 2005, Jealous has
served as president o f the
Rosenberg Foundation, a pri­
vate institution that supports civil
and human rights advocacy.
Despite his own successes.
Jealous said that blacks in
America still have a hard row to
hoe, and that the gains of recent
decades have created a false
sense of progress.
"Those of us who are 45 and
younger were told, 'The struggle
has been won. Go out and flour­
ish. Don't worry about the move­
ment,”’ he said.
Jealous said he is eager to
work with other groups to push
his agenda.
"This is the century when
white people will become a mi­
nority in this country," he said.
"What that means is right now,
we need to have a clear picture
of where we're headed and work
togetherdiligently with Latinos,
Native Americans, Asians and
progressive white groups as if
our collective future depends on
it. I’m committed to that."
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Portland
NAACP
Students
Empower
The N A A C P S tudent
Group at Portland State Uni­
versity is hosting a State of
Emergency seminar Satur­
day to empower students of
color to look beyond social
stigmas to become success­
ful people.
The free and open to the
publicevent will contain sev­
eral workshops to focus on
the state of Black America.
Some of the discussion top­
ics will be contemporary is­
sues between Africans and
African Americans; how the
past affects our present;
trauma in the black commu­
nity; the condition of the black
student; stress and health
wellness, the structure of the
blackfamily; Portland’s black
history; and the use of the
“n” word,
The keynote speaker will
be Skip Osborne; past Presi­
d en t o f the P ortland
NA ACP. W orkshop pre­
se n te rs include C h arles
McGee of the Black Parent
Initiative; Tonya Dickens,
founder of the Brothers and
Sisters Keeper program ;
Kay se Jama, executive di­
rector of the Center for In­
tercultural Organizing; and
Karen Gibson, professor of
urban studies at PSU.
The daylong schedule of
events will take place at
PSU’s Cramer Hall, 1721
S.W. Broadway, beginning
with early registration and
breakfast at 8 a.m. Lunch
will be provided.
PIL Allstar Banquet
■
A
Thursday May 29th, 2008
Time 7pm - 9pm
Salvation Army
Az tk
&
5335 North Williams Ave
Portland OR 97217
Proceeds Go To
The Joyce Washington Scholarship Fund
Purchase your Tickets today at
The Portland Observer
4747 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Portland OR 97211
503-288-0033
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