In-fighting at New Orleans NAACP branch has national office intervene
11th December 2017 · 0 Comments
By Michael Isaac Stein
Contributing Writer
“The New Orleans Branch of the NAACP should be ashamed of itself,” said First Vice President Ronald Coleman at a press conference last Tuesday at the Perfect Love International Ministry.
For the second time this year, a group of dissatisfied NAACP members, including elected members of the branch’s Executive Committee, are calling on the national NAACP office to intervene and take control of the New Orleans branch.
The officially unsanctioned press conference caps a tumultuous year for the local branch, and was prompted by the arrests of two of its members, including 97-year-old Anderson Washington.
The discontent within the branch began in January when political consultant Gloria Hall-Johnson was elected President. Right away, supporters of her opponent and predecessor, Morris Reed Sr., found faults with her leadership.
At the NAACP National Convention in Baltimore last July, the group led by Coleman held a press conference, releasing a laundry list of alleged misconduct by Gloria Johnson. On August 28, the National Committee placed the New Orleans branch on Level II Administration, and empowered Dr. Ernest Johnson to take control.
Dr. Johnson, a member of the National Board of Directors for over a decade and President of the Louisiana State Conference since 1995, says the national intervention was a result of the press conference itself, rather than the allegations against Gloria Johnson.
“It was an illegal press conference,” he claims. “That’s grounds for people to be suspended. The national board just felt the situation was out of control, but rather than have those people suspended, I convinced them to allow me to step in.” He says that the National Board had been worried about the local branch’s inability to conduct business all year, but that the press conference was “the icing on the cake.”
Ernest Johnson says he’s seen no proof of the allegations against Gloria Johnson, which include misappropriation of charitable contributions, malfeasance of elected office, and fraudulent behavior of a federally recognized 501©3.
Gloria Johnson denies the charges vehemently.
“They’ve said so many cruel things, and none of it is true,” she says. She plans to provide her critics with an end-of-year financial report to disprove their claims at the chapter’s next meeting on December 13. She is also considering bringing a defamation suit against her accusers. “These people never show up for meetings, and when they do, they just cause confusion and chaos,” Johnson says.
But the Coleman camp sees Ernest Johnson’s inaction on these accusations as a sign that he “has joined the flawed administration of President Gloria Johnson.” They’re now calling for a new Level II Administrator and asking Attorney General Jeff Landry to investigate the New Orleans Branch.
“From what I’ve observed over the last few months, there are some people who’d rather have the branch charter suspended than let other people be in power,” says Dr. Johnson. “And that’s very unfortunate. People say I’m on sides. I’m not on any side. I just want to see the oldest and largest branch in Louisiana function.”
The dispute reached its peak point of contention on November 8, when local branch members Anderson Washington and Howard Nelson tried to gain entry to an Executive Committee meeting, even though neither is a member of the Executive Committee. They were initially stopped at the door, but after some shoving, Dr. Ernest Johnson asked for them to be let through.
They began disrupting the meeting, calling for the chapter to be closed. Within 10 minutes, they forced the meeting to adjourn, according to Gloria Johnson. The woman who originally shut them out and was at the center of the scuffle, Katie Neesom, called the police and the two were arrested a week later at a local branch membership meeting on charges of disturbing the peace.
“It’s heartbreaking to me,” says local branch member and communications director Kim Ford. “We don’t have time for bickering between Gloria and Ron. Our community has enough problems. The community really wants to see this branch of the NAACP get back to doing good work. And I know Gloria is doing good work.”
This article originally published in the December 11, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
