Residents Seek 2nd NAACP Chapter
Newcomers Critical of Current Branch
By Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 8, 2008; Page PG01
A group of Prince George's County residents who say they are dissatisfied with the local NAACP are working to start a new chapter.
Mike Lyles, a member of the group investigating starting the chapter, said organizers were able to rally 170 people to complete applications and pay $30 each in membership fees in the past 90 days. The group sought permission from the Maryland statewide NAACP, which recommended it not be granted a charter. A final decision will be made by the national organization in Baltimore this month, Lyles said.
About a dozen local residents met three months ago in Mitchellville and discussed the feasibility of proposing a second local chapter, which would be called the Greater Beltway Branch. Several jurisdictions are home to more than one NAACP group, Lyles said.
That meeting led supporters to encourage friends and neighbors to join the effort, and a meeting last week drew dozens of participants, he said.
Lyles said that he had not reached out to the current chapter. He said he joined the local NAACP after moving to the county in the mid-1990s but was displeased with what he saw. He said a new chapter is needed to address important issues and to encourage activism.
Among those who are interested in starting a new chapter, Lyles said, are people "who have found it difficult to get past the status quo" of the current group. He said supporters of the new group opted to try to start another chapter rather than take the time to unseat officers in the organization and go through bureaucratic red tape that could take months.
June White Dillard, who has been president of the Prince George's chapter for six years, said she has never spoken with the group. She said she reached out to its members, but no meetings were scheduled because of the death of a family member of one of the leaders. Dillard said she did, however, speak for about 20 minutes on the telephone with a former leader of the group, who later distanced himself from the effort to form a new chapter.
Dillard said the state office rejected the group's application for a chapter in March, and the national organization generally does not override the state organization's recommendations.
"That is our policy, and that is our history," she said.
Dillard said no cities or counties have more than one NAACP chapter. "You may find multiple youth councils, but that is all," she said.
Dillard said the people who signed applications and paid dues to show support for starting a chapter belong to the national organization, not to the county branch.
Members of the new group's organizing committee will host a meeting Tuesday to discuss civil rights activism in the county, Lyles said. Publicity for the event cited McArthur Bishop, president of the Prince George's chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; James Dula, president of the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce; Dillard; and Gerald Stansbury, president of the State Conference of the NAACP, as members of a panel discussion. Dillard said she has notified the group that she will not attend. She said Stansbury also has said he will not be there.
The meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Prince George's Ballroom, 2411 Pinebrook Ave. in Landover.
The Prince George's chapter of the NAACP will hold its regular monthly meeting May 15 at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Highland Park, Dillard said. Del. James E. Proctor Jr. (D-Prince George's) and state Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Prince George's) are scheduled to give a legislative report, she said.