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Bruce Gordon Resigns from NAACP |
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Thursday, 08 March 2007 |
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Washington
Correspondent
NAACP President and CEO Bruce Gordon, who resigned last
week, citing a clash with the organization's 64-member board, apparently was
unable to reconcile his corporate conciliatory style with the board's veteran
civil rights advocates.
 Bruce Gordon
Well-placed sources close to the organization said trouble
started brewing soon after Gordon, a former Verizon executive, was hired 19
months ago. One source said he tried to resign only six weeks after starting
the job, but was talked into staying.
Board Chairman Julian Bond was candid in his assessment of
the conflict.
"We had some disagreements about whether the NAACP should
focus all of its energies on social justice or whether we should focus on social
service. The board believes that we have been a social justice organization for
98 years. Although we very much appreciate and value social service, that's not
what we do. And that's not what we're going to do," Bond says. "I think it was
a gradual realization on both parts that we were not attuned and that I don't
know whether he came to us with the attitude, ‘I'm going to show those 1960s
Negroes where to go and where they need to be.'"
Bond continues, "Haven't you run into people like that who
haven't been involved in the struggle for civil rights but think that they know
so much more about it than people who have been and who think that, you know,
that was good when Dr. King was alive, but, it's another day now?"
Gordon hasn't been shy about his lack of traditional civil
rights involvement. In an interview with NNPA shortly after taking the post,
the retired Verizon executive, who won wide acclaim for his Black hiring
efforts before his retirement nearly four years ago, acknowledged that he had
not participated in traditional civil rights marches, but believed there were
other ways to achieve justice.
Gordon believes social services such as a housing assistance
program through the Bank of America was also necessary for the NAACP as well as
increasing its membership and giving an accurate count.
Gordon says he also clashed with the board on his hiring
practices.
"I think we need a whole lot of talent in our staff and I
think there are multiple ways to get that talent. You can hire it or you can
contract it. I was trying to tap all resources to get more skills at the table.
That was not an approach that the board was comfortable with," he said.
Gordon's conciliatory style was ultimately demonstrated last
summer when President Bush broke his five-year boycott of the organization,
embraced Gordon and spoke at the NAACP's summer conference, where he promised
to support the renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
Despite the sudden resignation, Gordon calls his tenure a
success.
"We've got over 400,000 members and associates. I'm very
excited about that," he says. "We had membership below 300,000 when I started.
I think that our profile in Washington
in terms of our interface with this administration and all branches of
government, I think we have a stronger profile than we've ever had."
Sources said he submitted the resignation formally on Feb.
17, but had agreed to work with the board on an agreeable time to announce his
resignation and to leave. But, the day after the NAACP Image Award live
television broadcast March 2, Gordon told reporters, catching board members,
including Bond, off guard.
"He resigned. We didn't dismiss him. And although the
relationship wasn't smooth, we were prepared to carry on with that," Bond says.
Former NAACP Board Chair Myrlie Evers-Williams, who has been
inactive over the past year because of knee surgery, says the size of the
64-member board with an elected membership consisting of veteran civil rights
leaders and activists has frequently clashed with executive styles.
"The issue of the size of the 64-member board has been a
major issue for a very long time," she says. "You have to know what your goals
and purposes are and you have to be able to agree on that. ... The higher purpose
is what is to be served."
Bond is less inclined to blame the board structure for the
controversy surrounding Gordon.
"[Former President and CEO] Kweisi Mfume stayed for 10
years, former [Executive Director] Ben Hooks stayed for 15 years. This guy
stayed for 19 months. So, where's the problem seem to be?" Bond questioned.
Mfume, a former congressman, who also left the NAACP amidst
clashes with Bond, said he would have little to say publicly.
"I was sorry to hear of Bruce's decision to move on, but I
respect his integrity of purpose and his belief that this was the best decision
for him at this time," Mfume said. "We all want the NAACP to survive and get
better. Let's hope that that happens sooner rather than later."
Gordon succeeded Mfume, who later ran an unsuccessful race
for a Democratic nomination to the U. S. Senate. Mfume says he's been on a
speaking circuit the past six months and is now deciding between several career
offers.
Bond says NAACP General Counsel Dennis Hayes will again
serve as interim president until a new one is picked. An exit date for Gordon
was not decided by NNPA deadline, but, Gordon says, "I'm sure we'll do it
quickly."
Mfume dismissed the question when asked if he would reapply
for his old job. "It hasn't crossed my mind," he says.
But, it has apparently crossed the minds of others.
"The name has come up, but I don't think so. The question
has come up. It's a question of having been there and we don't want to go back
there and we want to move ahead. We are always think that with every step we
take, it gets higher and higher and higher," says Bond.
Evers-Williams, who was the chair when Mfume was hired,
responded, "I think the question is would he consider?"
Despite the controversy, Bond concedes he wants someone like
Gordon, but with more of a civil rights orientation.
"To be fair, I'd like someone with some of Gordon's
qualities, a familiarity with the corporate world, a way of doing business that
is attentive to the bottom line. These are not always qualities that non-profit
CEOs have. And he has them. But generally we want somebody who is rooted in the
civil rights movement, who is comfortable around a wide variety of people and
who is committed to fighting for the civil rights of his or her people," Bond
says.
Among the first people to respond to the Gordon resignation
was National Urban League President Marc Morial.
"I was surprised and disappointed to learn about his
decision to leave the NAACP," says Morial. "Bruce Gordon is a highly competent
and experienced leader whose contributions and voice will be missed."
It's not about who's right or who's wrong, says Gordon.
"I think it's more important to simply say that I've got a
different view of what will make the organization more effective than the board
itself has."
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