National

Whites Don’t Have to Pretend to Be Black to Lead an NAACP Chapter

Published

10 years ago

June 24, 2015

By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – If Rachel Dolezal had looked around, she would have discovered that a White person does not have to pretend to be Black in order to lead an NAACP chapter. In fact, she would have to look no farther than several states south, to Arizona, to see that a White man, Donald Harris, is president of the Maricopa County NAACP.

Dolezal served as president of the Spokane, Wash. NAACP branch of the NAACP until her parents disclosed that their estranged White daughter was passing as Black. The shocking disclosure created a national uproar – not about her being White, but her living a lie – and led to her resignation.

As president of the Phoenix-based NAACP branch, Donald Harris was not amused.

“I think there may be some mental health issues,” he said. “[Dolezal] has done some good things, and she’s also done some bad things. But she did them knowingly. [She’s become] a joke, and that’s a shame. But that reflects more on her than it does on the NAACP.”

Paul Krissel, a White man who has served as treasurer of the Salem-Keizer NAACP chapter in Oregon, agrees.

“[A] commentator said, ‘It’s like a car crash. We love a car crash. Why don’t we spend this much time looking at the work of the NAACP? All of a sudden you want to have a conversation about racial identity because a White woman converted herself over to Black?’ These conversations have been going on for years, and all of a sudden the mainstream is interested in them because there’s a car crash.”

The NAACP, the nation’s largest surviving civil rights organization, was founded in 1909 by 60 people, most of them White liberals. Seven of the founders were Black, including W.E. B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Mary Church Terrell.

William Monroe Trotter, the crusading editor of the Boston Guardian, helped form the NAACP but quit because he thought it was being controlled by Whites. Trotter focused on reviving the National Equal Rights League, an all-Black civil rights organization started in 1864 by Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland Garnett, and John Mercer Langston, among others.

The NAACP did not have its first African American executive secretary (now called president) until James Weldon Johnson assumed the post in 1920.

In December, Donald Harris, a White, 77-year-old lawyer and Vietnam veteran, was elected to succeed Oscar Tillman, who had headed the Maricopa County, Arizona NAACP branch almost three decades. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Jewish parents who were also members of the NAACP, Harris has been a member and volunteer of the Maricopa County chapter over the past 50 years.

Even so, Harris’ race matters. Someone made that clear at the very first chapter he joined while working at Camp Pendleton in California, after returning from the war.

“In the beginning…I joined the [North San Diego County] branch of the NAACP. I used to go on Wednesday nights and I was the legal adviser,” he recounted. “One night I stood up and said, ‘I think this is what we ought to do.’ And a woman who was a member said, ‘I’m tired of White people telling us what we need to do.’ And I just said, ‘Thank you very much ma’am, you just freed up my Wednesday nights.’ And I took off.”

Harris’ race came up again when he was elected the new branch president in Arizona by a 19-to-0 vote (with four abstentions). By then, he had spent many years as volunteer and nearly 15 as a board member. Still, there was an “unpleasant meeting” in which Black leaders, elders, and pastors, who were not members but had a lot of influence in the community, proposed ways to undermine or recall his presidency.

“There was a hunt for a new president but nobody…wanted to do the work. I did not want to be president…but it was such an embarrassment [for the chapter]. So I said, ‘I nominate myself,’ waiting for somebody to say, ‘How about me.’ But nobody did,” Harris said. “Then a couple of people, after the fact, started saying, ‘Gee, we wanted to be president.’ And therein lies the rub.”

There were also death threats, both at the time of his election, and recently, as he has made a few national media appearances regarding the Dolezal saga.

But his race has also mattered in a positive way, which writer and commentator, Michaela Angela Davis pointed out last week when she and Harris appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 together.

“What [Harris] said is it – using his White male privilege to help the American project. That’s what [Dolezal] could have done,” she said.

For Harris, that truth was hard to hear.

“It is unpleasant, but true. I can use my leverage in the White community to push civil rights,” he said. “Cindy McCain lives here, she owns Anheuser-Busch – I can go to her and say, ‘I need $70,000.’ I can hit up my fat-cat friends. I can ask $25,000 from the Fiesta Bowl, and we’ve never gotten that much from them. I could go places where African Americans couldn’t go.”

Paul Krissel, a former treasurer of the Salem-Keizer NAACP chapter in Oregon, has had similar experience as a White executive member and volunteer. He’s spent approximately 40 years working and fighting for social justice with local and national labor unions and other organizing groups. Now “semi-retired,” he’s been volunteering heavily with the NAACP for the past five or six years, planning events and serving in general.

“The challenge is always to help well-meaning people get beyond, ‘I want to do good for somebody else,’ to, here’s the social construct that creates these patterns of discrimination and oppression in society. This has to be the work of White people challenging White people. I have the credibility to challenge White people in a way a person of color wouldn’t be able to,” Krissel stated.

“If I just go hang out with people of color, hang out at these organizations, and feel good about myself for being involved in that work, but I’m not going back out to my peers…then I’m really not doing the work.”

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Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

Published

18 hours ago

March 28, 2025

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Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas Honors California Women in Construction with State Proclamation, Policy Ideas

“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.

Published

5 days ago

March 24, 2025

Oakland Post

Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), center, is shown with other guest speakers at the Sacramento Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction brunch held at the State Capitol on March 6, 2025. On the left is Jennifer Todd, LMS General Contractors Founder and President. To Todd’s right is Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, from Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌, California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

To honor Women in Construction Week, Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 30 in the State Legislature on March 6. This resolution pays tribute to women and highlights their contributions to the building industry.

The measure designates March 2, 2025, to March 8, 2025, as Women in Construction Week in California. It passed 34-0 on the Senate floor.

Authored by Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro), another bill, Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 28, also recognized women in the construction industry.

The resolution advanced out of the Assembly Committee on Rules with a 10-0 vote.

The weeklong event coincides with the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) celebration that started in 1998 and has grown and expanded every year since.

The same week in front of the State Capitol, Smallwood, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Assemblymember Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento), attended a brunch organized by a local chapter of NAWIC.

Two of the guest speakers were Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, CEO of Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates, and Jennifer Todd, President and Founder of LMS General Contractors.

Todd is the youngest Black woman to receive a California’s Contractors State License Board (A) General Engineering license. An advocate for women of different backgrounds, Todd she said she has been a woman in construction for the last 16 years despite going through some trying times.

A graduate of Arizona State University’s’ Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, in 2009 Todd created an apprenticeship training program, A Greener Tomorrow, designed toward the advancement of unemployed and underemployed people of color.

“I always say, ‘I love an industry that doesn’t love me back,’” Todd said. “Being young, female and minority, I am often in spaces where people don’t look like me, they don’t reflect my values, they don’t reflect my experiences, and I so persevere in spite of it all.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11.2% of the construction workforce across the country are female. Overall, 87.3% of the female construction workers are White, 35.1% are Latinas, 2.1% are Asians, and 6.5% are Black women, the report reveals.

The National Association of Home Builders reported that as of 2022, the states with the largest number of women working in construction were Texas (137,000), California (135,000) and Florida (119,000). The three states alone represent 30% of all women employed in the industry.

Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus supported Smallwood-Cuevas’ SCR 30 and requested that more energy be poured into bringing awareness to the severe gender gap in the construction field.

“The construction trade are a proven path to a solid career. and we have an ongoing shortage, and this is a time for us to do better breaking down the barriers to help the people get into this sector,” Rubio said.

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Report Offers Policies, Ideas to Improve the Workplace Experiences of Black Women in California

The “Invisible Labor, Visible Struggles: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Workplace Equity for Black Women in California” report by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute (CBWCEI), unveiled the findings of a December 2024 survey of 452 employed Black women across the Golden State. Three-fifths of the participants said they experienced racism or discrimination last year and 57% of the unfair treatment was related to incidents at work.

Published

5 days ago

March 24, 2025

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By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Backed by data, a report released last month details the numerous hurdles Black women in the Golden State must overcome to effectively contribute and succeed in the workplace.

The “Invisible Labor, Visible Struggles: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Workplace Equity for Black Women in California” report by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute (CBWCEI), unveiled the findings of a December 2024 survey of 452 employed Black women across the Golden State. Three-fifths of the participants said they experienced racism or discrimination last year and 57% of the unfair treatment was related to incidents at work.

CBWCEI President and CEO Kellie Todd Griffin said Black women have been the backbone of communities, industries, and movements but are still overlooked, underpaid, and undervalued at work.

“The data is clear,” she explained. “Systemic racism and sexism are not just historical injustices. They are active forces shaping the workplace experiences of Black women today. This report is a call to action. it demands intentional polices, corporate accountability, and systemic changes.”

The 16-page study, conducted by the public opinion research and strategic consulting firm EVITARUS, showcases the lived workplace experiences of Black women, many who say they are stuck in the crosshairs of discrimination based on gender and race which hinders their work opportunities, advancements, and aspirations, according to the report’s authors, Todd Griffin and CBWCEI researcher Dr. Sharon Uche.

“We wanted to look at how Black women are experiencing the workplace where there are systematic barriers,” Todd Griffin told the media during a press conference co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media. “This report is focused on the invisible labor struggles of Black women throughout California.”

The aspects of the workplace most important to Black women, according to those surveyed, are salary or wage, benefits, and job security.

However, only 21% of the survey’s respondents felt they had strong chances for career advancement into the executive or senior leadership ranks in California’s job market; 49% felt passed over, excluded from, or marginalized at work; and 48% felt their accomplishments at work were undervalued. Thirty-eight percent said they had been thought of as the stereotypical “angry Black woman” at work, and 42% said workplace racism or discrimination effected their physical or mental health.

“These sentiments play a factor in contributing to a workplace that is unsafe and not equitable for Black women in California,” the report reads.

Most Black women said providing for their families and personal fulfillment motivated them to show up to work daily, while 38% said they were dissatisfied in their current job with salary, supervisors, and work environment being the top sources of their discontent.

When asked if they agree or disagree with a statement about their workplace 58% of Black women said they feel supported at work, while 52% said their contributions are acknowledged. Forty-nine percent said they felt empowered.

Uche said Black women are paid $54,000 annually on average — including Black single mothers, who averaged $50,000 — while White men earn an average of $90,000 each year.

“More than half of Black families in California are led by single Black women,” said Uche, who added that the pay gap between Black women and White men isn’t forecasted to close until 2121.