BY ROBERT SANCHEZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Milton Hinton
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Milton Hinton is looking forward to a scandal-free, issue-oriented national NAACP convention -- and so are his fellow members from Cincinnati.
For the first time in years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People heads into its 89th annual convention, starting today in Atlanta, with an almost clean slate: Its finances are in order and its new leadership team is visible and respected.
"The new people we have now have invigorated the organization," said Mr. Hinton, president of the NAACP's Cincinnati branch for four years. "For some time, there was a cloud that had been hanging over us."
Three years ago, the NAACP battled negative publicity about financial impropriety and a multimillion-dollar debt under then-Executive Director Benjamin F. Muhammad, formerly Benjamin F. Chavis. Last year, several members of the national board, including former New York chapter president Hazel Dukes, were removed for ethics violations.
President Kweisi Mfume and Chairman Julian Bond are the ideal duo to tackle the challenges, Mr. Hinton said.
Observers say the convention is the new leadership's first large-scale opportunity to begin the process of cooperation. "I think this is the watershed," said Ronald Walters, political science professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. "They gained respect from it," he said. "There's a sense of renewal."
Among topics the NAACP's 63-member national board will debate are the disproportionate effect of tobacco and environmental hazards on blacks, and increased violence in post offices.
The local 3,000-member NAACP branch would like to see investigations into discrimination at hotels and industries throughout the country, Mr. Hinton said.
"We need to prioritize things, and make sure we have a general direction," he said. "Our branch is well-respected and I hope we'll be able to share . . . our insight."
Said member Robert Richardson Sr. of Springfield Township: "The entire time things were going bad nationally, our group kept . . . pushing forward. But the black population out here needs to participate more . . . We need to get the house in order."
The Baltimore Sun contributed to this report.
