National

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

Published

11 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 December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

3 days ago

January 2, 2026

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2025 in Review: Seven Questions for Assemblymember Lori Wilson — Advocate for Equity, the Environment, and More

Her rise has also included several historic firsts: she is the only Black woman ever appointed to lead the influential Assembly Transportation Committee, and the first freshman legislator elected Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. She has also been a vocal advocate for vulnerable communities, becoming the first California legislator to publicly discuss being the parent of a transgender child — an act of visibility that has helped advanced representation at a time when political tensions related to social issues and culture have intensified.

Published

1 week ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City). File photo.

By Edward Henderson, California Black Media

Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City) joined the California Legislature in 2022 after making history as Solano County’s first Black female mayor, bringing with her a track record of fiscal discipline, community investment, and inclusive leadership.

She represents the state’s 11th Assembly District, which spans Solano County and portions of Contra Costa and Sacramento Counties.

California Black Media spoke with Wilson about her successes and disappointments this year and her outlook for 2026.

What stands out as your most important achievement this year?

Getting SB 237 passed in the Assembly. I had the opportunity to co-lead a diverse workgroup of colleagues, spanning a wide range of ideological perspectives on environmental issues.

How did your leadership contribute to improving the lives of Black Californians this year?

The Black Caucus concentrated on the Road to Repair package and prioritized passing a crucial bill that remained incomplete during my time as chair, which establishes a process for identifying descendants of enslaved people for benefit eligibility.

What frustrated you the most this year?

The lack of progress made on getting Prop 4 funds allocated to socially disadvantaged farmers. This delay has real consequences. These farmers have been waiting for essential support that was promised. Watching the process stall, despite the clear need and clear intent of the voters, has been deeply frustrating and reinforces how much work remains to make our systems more responsive and equitable.

What inspired you the most this year?

The resilience of Californians persists despite the unprecedented attacks from the federal government. Watching people stay engaged, hopeful, and determined reminded me why this work matters and why we must continue to protect the rights of every community in our state.

What is one lesson you learned this year that will inform your decision-making next year?

As a legislator, I have the authority to demand answers to my questions — and accept nothing less. That clarity has strengthened my approach to oversight and accountability.

In one word, what is the biggest challenge Black Californians are facing currently?

Affordability and access to quality educational opportunities.

What is the goal you want to achieve most in 2026?

Advance my legislative agenda despite a complex budget environment. The needs across our communities are real, and even in a tight fiscal year, I’m committed to moving forward policies that strengthen safety, expand opportunity, and improve quality of life for the people I represent.

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2025 in Review: Seven Questions for Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, Champion of Reparations, Housing and Workers’ Rights

In 2025, McKinnor pushed forward legislation on renters’ protections, re-entry programs, reparations legislation, and efforts to support Inglewood Unified School District. She spoke with California Black Media about the past year and her work. Here are her responses.

Published

1 week ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood). File photo.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr., California Black Media

Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) represents

California’s 61st Assembly District.

As a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC),

McKinnor was elected in 2022. She chairs the Los Angeles County Legislative Delegation and leads the Assembly Public Employment and Retirement Committee. McKinnor also served as a civic engagement director, managed political campaigns, and worked as chief of staff for former Assemblymembers Steven Bradford and Autumn Burke.

Looking back on 2025, what do you see as your biggest win?

Assembly Bill (AB) 628. If rent is $3,000, people should at least have a stove and a refrigerator. It’s ridiculous that people were renting without basic appliances.

I’m also proud that I was able to secure $8.4 million in the state budget for people coming home from incarceration. That includes the Homecoming Project, the menopause program for incarcerated women, and the Justice Leaders Program.

How did your leadership help make life better for Black Californians this year?

After the Eaton Fire, I pushed to get the same kind of support for affected areas that wealthier regions get after disasters.

I also did a lot of work building political power— establishing the Black Legacy PAC and California for All of Us PAC so we could support Black candidates and educate voters. We also called voters to make sure they understood Prop 50.

People need to understand this: there are only 12 Black legislators in the Capitol. Folks act like we can just walk in and pass reparations, but that’s not how it works.

What frustrated you most this year?

The governor did not have the political will to sign these bills: AB 57 and AB 62. They both passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly and the Senate. We did the work. The only person who didn’t have the political will to sign them was the governor.

The public needs to ask the governor why he didn’t sign the bills. We can’t keep letting people off the hook. He has to answer.

I also introduced AB 51 — the bill to eliminate interest payments on Inglewood Unified School District’s long-standing state loan — held in the Appropriations Committee. That was frustrating,

What inspired you most in 2025?

The civil rights trip to Alabama was life changing. We visited the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. We took members of the Black, Latino, Jewish, and API caucuses with us. It changed all of us.

People aren’t always against us — they just don’t know our history.

What’s one lesson from 2025 that will shape how you approach decisions next year?

The legislative trip to Norway taught me that collaboration matters. Government, labor, and industry sit down together there. They don’t make villains. Everybody doesn’t get everything they want, but they solve problems.

What’s the biggest challenge facing Black Californians in one word?

Inequity. It shows up in housing, wealth, stress – all these things.

What’s the number one goal you want to accomplish in 2026?

Bringing back AB 57 and AB 62, and securing money for the Inglewood Unified loan interest forgiveness.