For Reverend Cardes Brown, Life Member of the NAACP/ The Justice Coalition
On Dec.1 the only woman of color ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked us all: “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible.
” Her choice of the word “stench,” out of all the words in the dictionary, was perfect.
“Will the NAACP survive the stench of its coverup of how it has treated a young gifted Black employee? Has the foul odor from the stench polluted the integrity of the association? Will the NAACP continue to ignore its own constitution and bylaws and allow an unfair election to stand?
Today, we announce our next steps in finding the source of the stench in the national NAACP. We trust when Truth gets a hearing, the pungent stench will subside. No organization, profit or non-profit, can survive without strong policies and training designed to prevent sex exploitation and hostile work environment. It is imperative that the world’s oldest civil rights organization lead by example and support women and others who have been held hostage in the “back of the bus.” We call upon veteran civil rights warriors of the NAACP and other veteran warriors to email outgoing NAACP Board Chair Leon Russell and incoming Chairperson Karen Boykins-Towns, to make certain the entire NAACP is aware of the Jazmine Childs vs. NAACP litigation pending in Durham County Superior Court in Durham, NC as reported in the following link: www.wral.com
Those of us who have worked on an animal farm know when you follow a stench to its source, it’s usually simple to remove it. When NAACP district directors, branch presidents, voting delegates, and candidates witnessed the wholesale violations of Article IX section 1 (b), 1(k) of the NAACP Constitution and By-Laws by Membership & Units Committee chair (M&U) Gloria Sweet-Love, they and many others asked me to notify national NAACP leaders about her violations. In the October and November meetings of the M&U Committee, however, she judged her own conduct as righteous, and did not entertain any discussion of the four complaints we filed against her. Not to mention the status of the four-year old complaint that now has transformed into a $20 million lawsuit awaiting trial in the Durham Superior Court, Childs v. NAACP.
We make this statement with a heavy heart. We love the NAACP. Life-members and others who are interested in repairing the constitutional lapses of a handful of NAACP officers want the National leadership to join us in identifying and specifying the source of the stench. We are long past the deadline for talks. The General Counsel, the CEO, the Chair of the Board of Directors—no one with the power to remove the stench has found the time nor the grace to contact us. This is not a poker game. Those of us who live on truth shall not fold the hand God dealt us.
The “Me-Too” movement, the stench of bosses demanding favors from subordinates; the lack of effective policies, training, and prompt consequences for harassers, no matter how powerful, creates a stench that cannot be ignored.