Page A10-The Chronicle, Thursday, June 28, 1984
Nine Questions
Wilson's still fig
By ROBIN ADAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
Margaret Rush Wilcon f^rmor
d?. - " iijvii, vi iiivi v i ian mai i ui 111c
NAACP's national board of directors, shocked the country
last year by suspending the organization's executive
director, Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks.
Wilson contended that the NAACP had been
mismanaged by Hooks, who had been executive director
since 1977. She also alleged that Hooks was insubordinate
and that he refused to cooperate with her.
But most of the 64 members of the boarckpf directors
felt that it was Wilson who was not working for the betterment
of the organization and was continuing her feud
with Hooks simply as a means to remove Hooks and
make herself head of the 75-year-old civil rights
vanguard.
The board, in a special called meeting, decided to
reinstate Hooks as the organization's executive director,
^ ?narLnr^H th*? pnwftH the chairman of the board_and ask.w
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At the NAACP's national convention last year, Kelly
Alexander Sr. of Charlotte was elected to Wilson's position.
The Chronicle recently talked with Wilson by phone
from her law office in St. Louis about the allegations she
made last year and the future of the NAACP.
\Inu lho( Voll. c- I J
uimi nciij nic\anuci CM . IIOS UCtTIl CICCIVO CIlHirman
of the board of the NAACP and you were asked to
resign, what is your relationship with the NAACP?
Well, I'm serving as a member of the board of the
special contributions fund and I also consider myself a
member of the other board (board of directors)..
How can you be a member of the board of directors if
you were asked to resign?
In the New York courts now I am appealing a decision
by the national board of directors in certifying the election
of a deceased person (James Kemp, who died in
December) to the board of directors. (There were 10 candidates,
including Wilson, running for eight seats on the
board of directors. Kemp died, leaving nine candidates
for the eight seats. But Kemp was certified as winning a
seat on the board. Wilson contends that, because Kemp
died, she should be the one to fill his seat and she is contesting
the matter in court.)
Do the claims that you made against Dr. Hooks and
the NAACP still hold true? 1
<
I was not making allegations against Mr. Hooks as I 1
was good management. My concern is you can always improve
your management. I wanted to bring in very bright
people from MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology), and other places, to fake a look at how we
were organized and take a look at what kind of management
systems we have in place. <
The issues that I raised were obscured by personalities.
The whole thing was carefully orchestrated. A great deal <
of lobbying went on across the country, but not by me.
But I can understand that. As I look back, a person's 1
career was on the line. It should never have been a public
issue. It was an internal matter. I was appalled when I
heard it was public.
But do the claims of mismanagement and insubordination
still hold true?
I don't know because I'm not there anymore.
If the claims you made are still accurate, will the
organization, which by many is said to be dying out, need
a change at the top in order to continue to survive?
It can continue (with the present leadership) but I think
the membership has to decide what it wants. My concern
was not dealing with personalities.
Is the NAACP on its deathbed?
It is an institution now, but I'm concerned that it may
not be the cutting edge and provide the leadership. There
is a great deal more that we can do. But we first have to
have the organization structured to be effective. Now, the <
organizational structure is not there. I don't think we can \
just have rhetoric. |
If you were able to see that the organization was having_ j
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Former NAACF Chairwoman Margaret Bush Wilson, seen here with Pres
:oncern with how the organization was being managed was not a persoi
Director Benjamin Hooks, but rather for the betterment of the NAACP.
there be others inside the organization who will do opportunity to say in defens
likewise? Not really. My whole poin
It's a little early to tell. It's too early to make that kind saying nothing. The whole n
of analysis. It's like the old story. People will follow for a confidential matters in publi
while ..., then there comes a point where people have had What are you doing now?
enough. It depends on the leadership. I'm back in private part
Throughout the controversy last summer, Dr. Hooks Louis), I'm a delegate to thi
was largely portrayed as the victim and you the attacker, vention supporting Jesse Ja<
Was there anything you wanted to say but didn't get an in a program I think is urgeni
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