Naacp Convention

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Leaders of the nation's most prominent black civil rights organization assailed three Democratic presidential candidates yesterday for failing to show up for a forum that the group held here at its annual convention. The six Democratic presidential contenders who did attend the NAACP forum appeared on a stage alongside empty chairs with placards bearing the names of the three who did not attend: Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

WASHINGTON -- In an intensely competitive election year, this was supposed to be the issue virtually everyone in Congress could agree on: renewing civil rights-era laws protecting minorities' access to the ballot box. But on the cusp of a scheduled vote tomorrow that White House strategists and other top Republicans once hoped would symbolize a modern-day GOP eager to attract more blacks and Latinos, a group of increasingly vocal Capitol Hill conservatives is...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It was Youth Night at the NAACP convention, and the hall was rocking to the sounds of gospel music. Thousands were on their feet, raising their hands to the heavens and praising the Lord.NAACP President Kweisi Mfume stood on the dais, clapping in time to the rhythm, smiling broadly. After 17 years in public office, adhering in his official duties to separation of church and state, the former Maryland congressman was clearly back in church."We came to have Youth Night, and instead we have church.

WHEN the president of the NAACP announced that the group is filing a class-action lawsuit against gun manufacturers and distributors to end practices that are putting guns in the wrong hands, it was the first big news to come out of the NAACP in years.The civil rights group has been criticized for being sleepy, irrelevant, out of touch with grass-roots black folks, not to mention its sex scandals and money problems. But it's finally showing signs of life again.At its annual convention this week in New York City, President Kweisi Mfume also threatened to lead a boycott against the major television networks for putting together a fall lineup of shows that doesn't have a single person of color playing a leading role.

IT WAS Wednesday morning at the convention of the supposedly nonpartisan NAACP. In a speech that was distinctly partisan, presidential candidate Al Gore was introduced as "the greatest vice president this nation has ever known." Within moments, the greatest second-stringer this nation has ever known walked through the convention floor, smiling, clasping hands, pressing the flesh, trying to milk votes from the overwhelmingly black audience that cheered him wildly. Once he took the stage, he embraced warmly Kweisi Mfume, Myrlie Evers-Williams and Julian Bond, past and current leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will address the NAACP's national convention tomorrow for the first time since he took office, the White House announced yesterday. Bush's decision to speak to the Baltimore-based group's annual meeting - a tradition for presidents that he has eschewed amid his tense relations with the civil rights organization - came as his party is working to boost its appeal to African-Americans in an election year. It follows a bitter internal fight among congressional Republicans over re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act. Bush supports the measure, but some Republicans from southern states have balked at parts of it - a stance that party strategists worry will further alienate black voters.

CHICAGO -- A defiant Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. lashed out at critics yesterday and vowed to keep charting a new course for the NAACP as the group opened its 85th annual convention."

Rebounding from his first embarrassment as NAACP executive director, the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. will try to put his stamp on the nation's oldest civil rights organization in Indianapolis this weekend at the group's annual convention.Since taking over the helm of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People three months ago from the Rev. Benjamin L. Hooks, Dr. Chavis, 45, has injected renewed vigor into an 84-year-old group sometimes criticized as ineffectual.Moving quickly to establish his leadership, Dr. Chavis stumbled into his first gaffe last week.

PITTSBURGH -- Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco was giving a textbook lesson in how to sell a city, and his rivals in Baltimore couldn't help but take notice.The prize: hosting the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's convention in the year 2000.It was before 9 a.m., and Brown was making the rounds at the NAACP's 88th annual convention. The night before, he had been the host at a reception for 500 delegates at the Pittsburgh Hilton.Now he was promising NAACP members the time of their lives in San Francisco.

ATLANTA -- The daughter of late Nigerian opposition leader Moshood K. O. Abiola challenged African-Americans yesterday to put aside their apathy toward injustice in Africa, saying their silence has hurt the continent and contributed to her father's death -- she believes by poison -- earlier this month."