NAACP elects new leader in trying time
The NAACP elected its 18th leader Friday night at an annual meeting of the executive board in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Cornell William Brooks, the head of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, a civil-rights research and advocacy organization, was elected president and chief executive by an overwhelming majority of the 64-member board, said Roslyn Brock, the chairwoman of the national board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In an interview yesterday morning, Brooks said he was “extraordinarily humbled and honored” at being chosen to lead the 105-year-old civil-rights organization.
Brooks listed voting rights, economic equality and health equity as some of the most-pressing civilrights concerns facing the country today.
“Clearly there’s much work to be done,” he said.
Brooks, 53, is an ordained minister and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Jackson State University, a master of divinity degree from the Boston University School of Theology and a doctoral degree from Yale Law School.
He has served as senior counsel with the Federal Communications Commission and on the transition team for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in 2010.
He has been married for more than 20 years, has two children and lives in Annandale, N.J. Brooks said he planned to move to the Washington, D.C., area for his new role.
The election occurred during a difficult period for the NAACP both internally and externally.
Brock said the organization “has taken proactive steps to improve our financial stability,” including reducing its staff by 7 percent in recent months. “Like all nonprofit organizations, we have experienced the ebb and flow of funding,” she said.
The organization’s Los Angeles branch also is under scrutiny after a decision by the branch’s leadership to honor Donald Sterling, the beleaguered Los Angeles Clippers owner, with a lifetime achievement award this month.
Sterling’s foundations have given the Los Angeles branch at least $45,000 since 2007, records showed. The NBA banned Sterling from the league after a recording of racist remarks by Sterling was made public.
Brock said the organization had “quickly addressed that issue” and rescinded Sterling’s award. “The unit is moving forward under new leadership,” she said of the chapter, adding that the organization was instituting new guidelines for selecting award recipients.