Naacp Officials

Howard school officials tend to pat themselves on the back when annual test results are released, because the county's composite scores usually are among the highest in the state. But the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has reminded the Board of Education that congratulations aren't necessarily in order just yet. In its annual report card to the school board last night - based on results from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program and Maryland Functional Tests - NAACP officials gave the No. 2 school system in the state a grade of F for the continuing dismal scores of African-American students.

MINNEAPOLIS -- If the NAACP is like family, as its leaders often say, then yesterday was a family feud.A noisy protest by Detroit delegates shut down the legislative session of the group's 86th annual convention. The delegates had been denied voting credentials because of a financial dispute with NAACP headquarters in Baltimore.Chanting "No justice, no peace," the 21 delegates and supporters drowned out proceedings on the convention floor, forcing adjournment. The convention had been billed as a time of healing after a year of NAACP infighting.

The county NAACP president's charges of discrimination in Harford's school system brought a detailed rebuttal from Superintendent Ray R. Keech, who labeled the charges groundless.The superintendent issued a 12-page report after the president of the local NAACP chapter accused the school system of discriminating against minorities in hiring and promotions.Local NAACP officials said they would reserve comment on the report, released at the chapter's regular monthly meeting Thursday night, until the next meeting in September.

A federal judge in Baltimore rejected efforts by the Adam's Mark hotel chain to effectively shut down an NAACP boycott, saying yesterday that the company's injunction request would unfairly restrict free speech about an incident in which there was substantial evidence of racial discrimination. U.S. District Judge Alexander Harvey II's ruling was a decisive reaffirmation of the constitutional right to stage boycotts to press for political change, long an effective protest tool for the civil rights group.

NAACP officials alleged yesterday that black workers suffer discrimination in hiring and promotion at the Social Security Administration and Health Care Financing Administration."

The NAACP said yesterday that the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., who was fired two months ago as the organization's executive director, owes the civil rights group $25,000 to $30,000 for personal expenses charged on two corporate credit cards.Despite a settlement agreement released yesterday, in which Dr. Chavis dropped all claims against the NAACP in connection with his firing, NAACP officials and the former $200,000-a-year executive director continued to snipe at each other.In the settlement, Dr. Chavis agreed to repay any personal expenses charged to the NAACP, plus 8 percent interest, after an auditor named by the organization reviews the accounts.

Stung by criticism in Baltimore and beyond of its endorsement of a professional football franchise for Charlotte, N.C., the NAACP yesterday recast its statement of support for Baltimore's National Football League rival suitor and set up a meeting today with the city's top black politicians.After nearly a week of controversy, NAACP officials still seemed taken aback by the emotional reaction in Baltimore to the endorsement and rumblings of discontent from NAACP insiders elsewhere in the country.

One man claimed to be divine."This is my church, these are my people," he roared during last night's NAACP's anti-crime summit at Mount Sinai Baptist Church.Someone shouted at him to respect the Lord's house."This is my [expletive] church," answered the divine one.When officials cut the volume on the man's microphone, he rushed toward the podium where the mayor and other city officials were seated. Plainclothes police officers and NAACP officials surrounded the man, pleading with him to behave.

President Barack Obama's former pastor, whose fiery sermons ignited controversy during the election campaign last year, told a local NAACP chapter Friday night to remember the past while continuing to work for change. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright avoided any hint of controversy in his remarks to the Anne Arundel County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Wright delivered a speech, spoken in the cadence of a preacher in the pulpit on Sunday, steeped in African-American history and intertwined with family lore, imploring his audience to practice "recognition, remembrance and resolve" in the continuing fight for civil rights.

The NAACP board will hold a special meeting Aug. 20 in Baltimore to deal with the controversy surrounding the executive director's offer to settle a fired employee's sexual harassment suit for $332,000.But NAACP board members, including supporters of Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., continued to worry aloud that the executive director showed questionable judgment in not consulting the board before making the offer to Mary E. Stansel in November 1993.Robert E. Starr, a board member from Fort Worth, Texas, who has supported Dr. Chavis, expressed "serious concerns as to whether the executive director is becoming a liability to the NAACP as opposed to an asset."