Group Seeks to Form a New NAACP Branch in Prince George's County
Current organization has not addressed important issues in county, organizers say
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Gazette
by Daniel Valentine | Staff Writer
A group of Prince George ’s residents are waging a battle to form a new county branch of the NAACP, claiming the current organization has not addressed longstanding discrimination in the county.
Since late last year, members of the county National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have been at odds with the group of about 100 county residents trying to form its own chapter. Both sides are expected to go before a subcommittee of the national NAACP board on May 16 in Baltimore , which will rule whether to authorize another branch of the organization in the county.
Supporters of the new group, the ‘‘Greater Beltway Branch,” said they are forming an organization with fresh blood that will push to resolve problems in the majority black county that they said the current NAACP has not addressed.
‘‘We still continue to face discrimination in education, economic empowerment, health and the judicial system,” said Sandra Pruitt, a community activist speaking for the new branch, which she said has 170 members.
The group launched officially in February after about 100 people paid the national NAACP $30 to join as charter members, Pruitt said.
But members of the Prince George ’s County NAACP said the new group threatens to dilute an established voice in county issues.
‘‘We have always had an open-door policy,” said branch President June White Dillard, who declined to give the total membership for the county chapter.
‘‘There’s no way that everybody is doing everything we want to do, though we are doing everything we can,” she said. ‘‘We could do more, but it takes people.”
Dillard said the group has forged alliances with county schools and lawmakers, and works behind the scenes to make improvements, but critics allege the county group’s membership is dwindling and the activism claims don’t hold true.
Despite having some of the highest household incomes in the United States for a majority-minority county, Prince George ’s schools score among the lowest in Maryland on standardized tests, homicides are among the highest in the state, and minority businesses continue to lose out to white-owned companies for government and prestigious private contracts, Pruitt said.
‘‘A lot of people just feel that there’s no voice,” she said. ‘‘You’d think your local NAACP would have addressed these issues by now.”
It isn’t the first time Pruitt has criticized conditions in the county. As a founding member of the civic group People For Change, Pruitt and other members have rallied for school reform and campaigned against what they call corruption in political circles.
Dillard said Pruitt and others only began trying to form their own NAACP chapter after they failed to get the county branch to take up their call for education reform.
‘‘Some of these people had come to us, and when they felt they could not dictate who they wanted in charge, they did this,” she said.
That dispute played out publicly in 2003, when state officials were called in to mediate a power struggle over the county NAACP ’s leadership. It took five months for Dillard to be declared the winner of the vote, as multiple candidates filed complaints about improper campaigning and actions by the candidates.
That history may have factored into the decision by state NAACP officials not to endorse the Greater Beltway chapter’s bid last month. Dillard said she informed state officials about the issue before they decided not to support the new branch before the national board.
‘‘Members interested in joining the proposed branch should be encouraged to join the existing branch,” Maryland NAACP official Gerald Stansbury wrote last month in a letter to Pruitt.
Stansbury did not return calls by press time Tuesday.
Pruitt dismissed Stansbury’s suggestion.
‘‘There’s a lot of politics tied to the NAACP,” Pruitt said. ‘‘Let’s just say that what the [current] branch does not do a good job of is embracing new ideas.”
Pruitt said organizers have gotten 170 people, including 15 teenagers, to pay the $30 annual dues to the national NAACP as members of the Greater Beltway group. A meeting in March drew 70 participants, she said.
‘‘We’re recruiting people who are going to be doing something,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt said Beltway members’ dues are currently going to the national NAACP, but the group would get a percentage back if their branch is approved.
The most recent meeting of the county branch last week drew about 15 members, Dillard said. A meeting in December brought out about 12 members.
Though they may not attend, membership in the county branch includes almost every state delegate and County Council member, Dillard said.
In a county of more than 800,000, Pruitt believes the two organizations can co-exist.
‘‘There are enough people for two chapters,” said Pruitt. ‘‘Maybe three or four.”
But Dillard worries the interest comes at the expense of the greater good.
‘‘There’s only one County Council. There’s only one school board,” she said. ‘‘It’s really difficult to divide that up.”
The Greater Beltway Chapter plans to hold a town hall meeting May 12 for interested members in early May, Pruitt said. The county NAACP meets May 15.
E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net .