January 20, 2005 | Read Time: 7 minutes
As two of the nation’s largest civil-rights organizations undergo changes in their top leadership, both groups are
embarking on new approaches designed to thaw the chilly relationships they have had with President Bush.
Both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in Baltimore, the nation’s largest advocacy organization for blacks, and the National Council of La Raza, in Washington, a group that represents millions of Hispanic Americans, lost longtime presidents at year’s end, when Kweisi Mfume and Raul Yzaguirre resigned from their posts. Leaders at the two groups say they will step up their efforts to engage the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress in discussions about civil rights, economic issues affecting the poor, and other matters important to minorities.
At the National Council of La Raza, Mr. Yzaguirre was often outspoken about his disagreements with President Bush. He says the White House showed its displeasure about some of his critical remarks by cutting some of the federal grants the organization had been counting on. (The Bush administration says the grants were denied to other groups as well and had nothing to do with the criticism.)
Janet Murguia, Mr. Yzaguirre’s replacement at National Council of La Raza, says the organization’s difficulties in promoting pro-Hispanic policies in Washington during the past four years won’t deter her from reaching out to President Bush. Previously a University of Kansas administrator and the executive director of the National Council of La Raza, Ms. Murguia can also tap her experience as a liaison to Congress during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
“It’s a new start” for National Council of La Raza, Ms. Murguia says, recalling that in her job with Mr. Clinton, “you really learn how to work both sides of the aisle. I’ll try to build coalitions while challenging both parties to do things that are in the best interests of Hispanic Americans. There had been a bit of a breakdown in our relations with the White House. I’d like to rebuild that.”
Ms. Murguia says the current political climate offers opportunities for her organization.
“Republicans are interested in building a foundation of support and Hispanics are one of the fastest-growing minorities in the country,” says Ms. Murguia. “Republicans are trying to seize on that.” According to post-election polls, 5 to 9 percent more Hispanic Americans voted for President Bush in 2004 than did so in 2000, even though John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, won more votes from Hispanics than did Mr. Bush.
Among Hispanic groups, National Council of La Raza has been perhaps the most vocal in its support of President Bush’s nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general of the United States. Ms. Murguia acknowledges that Mr. Gonzales has been criticized for his actions in the scandal over the torture of prisoners in Iraq, but she says Mr. Gonzales is qualified for the post. Her organization’s support of him has nothing to do with currying favor with the White House, she says.
“Alberto Gonzales and the National Council of La Raza have a long history together,” Ms. Murguia says.
Mr. Gonzales served on the board of one of the organization’s oldest affiliates, the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans, in Houston, and has helped the National Council of La Raza fight proposals in Texas that would deny public education to the children of legal immigrants, she says. The naming of Mr. Gonzales as attorney general could also provide a morale boost for Hispanic Americans. “It sends a positive message to our people,” Ms. Murguia says.
Political Opportunity
Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland at College Park, likens the support of Mr. Gonzales by National Council of La Raza and several other Hispanic groups to the backing blacks gave to Clarence Thomas when he was nominated to become a Supreme Court justice in 1991. He says the political capital a group gains from backing a top official could be short-lived, however.
“If La Raza takes advantage of this moment of agreement, then perhaps they can make some headway,” says Mr. Walters. “The president has shown that he’ll work with groups that accept major parts of his agenda, but given his agenda and his belief that he holds a mandate to push it forward, I’m not sure how long that moment of agreement would last.”
Ms. Murguia says National Council of La Raza will intensify efforts to win the federal government’s support for changes in immigration law and to protect safety-net programs for the nation’s poor Hispanic Americans — two of the National Council of La Raza’s most prominent policy items — by increasing the organization’s visibility in Washington and elsewhere. She plans a public-relations campaign that will focus on the group’s successes in fighting for civil rights, which might make government officials listen more closely to what the organization has to say, Ms. Murguia adds.
NAACP’s Plan
Because a successor to Mr. Mfume has yet to be named at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the organization has still not formulated precise plans for increasing its influence in high places. But Julian Bond, the NAACP’s board chair, says that the group is heartened by the success of some groups, including the National Urban League, in New York, in getting the ear of the Bush administration. “We want to have good relations with whoever is president,” says Mr. Bond. “It’s something we’re willing to work hard on.”
The group may have a lot of ground to make up. Mr. Mfume announced his resignation from the NAACP in late November, then accepted a rare invitation to the White House in December to visit with President Bush.
The meeting did little to change the chilly relationship between the NAACP and the president, Mr. Mfume said in published reports, although he added that it did help start a conversation. (Mr. Mfume and White House officials could not be reached for comment.)
The NAACP — particularly Mr. Bond — had become harshly critical, during the 2004 presidential campaign, of President Bush’s handling of the economy, the war in Iraq, and issues that involve blacks. After Mr. Bond made a speech in July that some Republican leaders viewed as politically partisan, the Internal Revenue Service began reviewing the 500,000-member organization’s tax-exempt status. Mr. Bond and the NAACP say they did nothing that violated the advocacy rules governing tax-exempt groups.
As that investigation continues, the NAACP has begun a search for Mr. Mfume’s replacement, appointing a committee that includes Mr. Bond and four other NAACP board members, as well as Dorothy S. Ridings, the outgoing president of the Council on Foundations, in Washington. Although some observers have speculated that a rift had developed between Mr. Mfume and Mr. Bond over the public posture of the organization — some believe Mr. Mfume wanted the civil-rights group to be more conciliatory to government officials than Mr. Bond did — Mr. Bond says the search committee probably won’t stray from the same criteria that were used to select Mr. Mfume as leader nine years ago.
“We need someone who has all of the qualities that Mfume did — energy, vigor, and vision,” says Mr. Bond, who credited Mr. Mfume with rescuing the organization from a $3.2-million deficit and restoring its image following a sex scandal that involved its previous executive director, Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. “We were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy,” Mr. Bond says.
The NAACP had already received 2,000 applications for the position by the time the search committee first met in early January. The organization hopes to have a new president in place by July, when it will hold its annual convention, although the naming of Mr. Mfume’s successor could come much earlier.
No matter who the NAACP selects, the organization is likely to experience further discord with President Bush, says Mr. Walters. “I don’t see many points on which the White House and the NAACP can agree,” he says, adding that civil-rights groups will probably be forced to turn to Democrats for help. “These groups have to be pragmatic. They’ll have to work through members of Congress who have said they’ll band together to fight some of the President’s social agenda if they want to get things done.”
Some observers say that as civil-rights organizations advocate for their members, they will need to modify their strategies so they don’t unnecessarily alienate government leaders. “Whether we like it or not, major national organizations have to play the hand they’re dealt,” says Rodney Jackson, president of the National Center for Black Philanthropy, in Washington.
“Having a Republican White House and Congress for eight years isn’t ideal, but it’s a situation we have to work with as best we can. We have no choice.”
