The Strib "news story" on Gallmon reads like an opinion piece by Gallmon as told to Terry Collins. You only get Gallmon's side of the story. Gallmon wanted to attract more middle and upper class people who can "get thing done." The problem is that the NAACP has a long tradition as an advocacy organization of field hands in spirit if not in social composition, i.e., an organization for the field hands. Left pretty much to themselves for 3 years (Fall 1999 to Fall 2002) those nice blacks and liberal whites who took over the branch didn't do much, unless preventing those nasty field hands for doing anything qualifies as doing something.
It appeared to me that a majority of people who voted or attempted to vote for NAACP branch officers last year may have been Edwards supporters who were stricken from the eligible voter lists. There was a ballot box stuffed with challenged ballots that were never counted and in the space of an hour I saw at least 20 people who complained about being turned away without being allowed to cast even a challenged ballot. All of this year Gallmon's supporters were outnumbered by Edwards supporters at every branch membership meeting. That's why the Gallmon faction disrupted and broke up at least 3 of the monthly membership meetings this year. The Edwards faction (the majority faction) had no reason to disrupt and bust up those branch meetings. >From my point of view the problem with the Gallmon administration wasn't so much a problem with Gallmon as it was with the regime that put him in office and that now needs him to step down. Here's my Top 3 reasons that Gallmon couldn't unite the branch and end the internal strife: 1. The branch executive committee generally operated outside of the constitution and bylaws of the NAACP. Rank-and-file members were not allowed to attend executive committee meetings as observers. Minutes of the branch executive committee were not made available to the general membership. The executive committee did not seek endorsement of policy decisions from the branch membership. Gallmon, the chair, ruled motions from the floor "out of order" as a tactic to prevent anything from being decided at the branch meetings. When those rulings were overturned by a 2 / 3 majority (per the by-laws and Roberts Rules of Order), and the "out of order" motions were passed, Gallmon and the executive committee simply ignored the decisions of the branch, e.g., the decision to back out of the deal to open "NAACP" Parent Information Centers on June 28, 2003. The branch president received authorization from the NAACP national office to open the centers in a letter dated June 30, 2003, subject to conditions that the local branch executive committee has also ignored, including endorsement by the branch of a hiring policy (not going to happen anyway). Membership meetings disrupted and broken up by members and supporters of the executive committee on various pretexts, the latest and most outrageous one being a false complaint to the police (by Gallmon or by an Urban League employee on behalf of Gallmon) resulting in the threatened arrest of branch members attending last Saturday's branch meeting and the actual arrest and beating of one branch member. That's all got to change immediately. 2. Members not allowed to join committees. Committees not formed in critical areas such as education advocacy and housing (advocacy). It is especially important to have education and housing committees up and running because the branch has settled lawsuits that resolve on paper but not in reality the problem of colored people generally not getting access to education and housing on the same basis as whites. That's got to change immediately. 3. The Minneapolis branch is run by people who turned the branch into one of the NAACP's most productive cash cows. The NAACP leadership is pleasing wealthy folk and corporations and sometimes extorting money from them. The NAACP has been "letting shit happen" in Minneapolis because the local leadership is doing such a good job of pleasing liberal donors. Settlements of the Hollman and Educational adequacy lawsuits were precedent setting, policy-setting legal agreements that really hamper the ability of NAACP branches to fight for better access to education and housing. That's got to change immediately. -Doug Mann, King Field REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
