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NAACP Roar Fades, But Not Mission

Tribune file photo by JAY NOLAN (2006)

Pat Spencer, secretary of the Hillsborough County branch of NAACP and area director of the four-county district, fears young people have never heard of the organization.

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By DONNA KOEHN

dkoehn@tampatrib.com

Published: February 8, 2009

Updated: 02/08/2009 12:11 am

TAMPA - Growing up in Montgomery, Ala., in the segregated 1940s, Pat Spencer and her grade-school classmates made sure they had two bundles of change tucked in their pocketbooks, tied in hankies or stuffed in their pockets.

"Just as we brought our lunch money on the first day of school, we also brought our money to the NAACP," she says.

As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People celebrates its 100th anniversary this month, its leaders are striving to make the organization just as relevant for young people today.

Spencer, secretary of the Hillsborough County branch and area director of the four-county district, participated in the NAACP Youth Council during the heady days in the battle for equal rights and the end of discrimination.

"My adviser was Miss Rosa Parks, who also served as secretary of her branch," Spencer says.

Now she fears many young people have never heard of the NAACP.

A number of events are planned to celebrate the anniversary, including a multigenerational birthday party at 5 p.m. Monday at the Hip Hop Soda Shop, 1241 E. Fowler Ave.

"It's going to be a big happy hour, and I want it to be festive and upbeat," says organizer Samuel Wright, second vice president of the branch and a professor and ombudsman at the University of South Florida.

"I had this revelation that I could engage the youth this way," he says. "They need to realize that had it not been for the NAACP, we would not be where we are today. We have to bridge the gap between yesterday and tomorrow."

He agrees many are unaware of the organization's rich history.

"Our students have not been informed," he says. "People aren't fighting over having separate water fountains anymore, but they need to understand that we're still trying for equal pay. Black crime also is ravaging our young people."

The Tampa branch was organized in 1917, and letters in its archives from as far back as 1913 plead for help with substandard housing and job discrimination. The Tampa and Plant City branches merged in 1996 to form the Hillsborough County branch.

Refocusing The Mission

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, national President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said he plans to redefine the mission of the NAACP.

"Our agenda as we head into our second century as a civil rights organization is also to revive our legacy as a human rights organization," he said.

One of Jealous' predecessors agrees with the mission shift, calling it a "logical extension of the civil rights movement."

"As long as we have disparities in educational attainment, in income, in health, in the things that we measure ourselves by in this society and they are, unfortunately, too many times determined by race, then you never get around to doing the things you ought to do," says Kweisi Mfume, NAACP president from 1996 to 2004.

The Hillsborough branch is involved in a number of efforts to reach those goals.

Cynthia O. Keeton, who works for the Florida Department of Health, is the chairwoman for health at Hillsborough's NAACP.

"We have health disparities in cancer, in the lead poisoning of children, diabetes and other chronic diseases, and immunization," she says. "I'm also trying to get people in Hillsborough County to be more physically active through walking, although we don't have a walkable community."

The local organization offers free after-school tutoring. Members also work with the school district in cases involving the zero-tolerance policy for rule violations, and keep track of racial makeup in school boundary decisions.

Its economic development arm helps minority- and women-owned businesses have equal access to financial opportunities.

Spencer says the economy is hurting local NAACP branches. Sometimes the general membership meeting is canceled because of a lack of a suitable facility. The offices on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, west of Nebraska Avenue, are small.

"We've had trouble getting churches," she says. "I wish we could get the churches more involved."

Black President Not Enough

This evening beginning at 4, Mount Calvary Seventh-day Adventist Church, 4902 40th St., is hosting the "Centennial Gospel Extravaganza" featuring evangelist Beverly Crawford, the 100-voice NAACP Centennial Mass Choir, the USF Gospel Choir and other gospel groups. Master of ceremonies is Randall "C" of radio station WTMP, 1150 AM and 96.1 FM.

Spencer says she hopes NAACP veterans as well as those unfamiliar with it will attend the monthlong activities designed to keep the organization vibrant.

Jealous says that even though he counts many of the old-guard civil rights leaders as mentors, "at the same time, if there was a mistake by the previous generation - for instance, in politics - it was to be too content with symbols."

NAACP members today are not satisfied with simply having a black president, he says.

"What they want to know is: 'What problem in my life will he be solving? Dad's out of work, mom's not getting paid enough, the kids' school is an embarrassment. What is he doing for me?'"

Mfume says the organization must adapt and refocus.

"You want to become more than just an asterisk in the history of the 21st century," he says. "As long as there is a need, and there is a need for the NAACP to articulate, agitate and to crystallize real issues, then the organization, in my opinion, has to continue to do that."

For information, go to www .hillsboroughnaacp.org or call (813) 234-8683.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Donna Koehn can be reached at (813) 259-8264.

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