Thursday, October 11, 2007

Fort Wayne NAACP is on life support

Rumor has it that the Fort Wayne, Indiana NAACP annual fundraiser, Marjorie Wickliffe Freedom Fund and Image Awards Banquet scheduled at the Memorial Coliseum for October 18, 2007 will not be held.

How can this be? According to some folks, Rev. Michael Latham, Executive Director of the Fort Wayne NAACP, Fort Wayne, Indiana has called a halt to popular event. And according to another source, the NAACP Board Members refuse to challenge Rev. Latham on this latest call.

What's up with the local NAACP or should I say what's Up with Rev. Latham?

Another source suggest that I hold my horses in blaming the Rev. Latham for the downward spiral of the local NAACP. Instead the source suggest that I gallop full speed ahead toward blaming the board members of the NAACP for allowing things to reach this level.

Maybe somebody will write a book and tell us something, you think?

If not, you can always comment on this blog.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10/14/2007

    Credo,

    I agree with you. I would like to see the local organization to be a little more active in achieving their established goals.

    And concerning the fundraiser, this would be an exceptional year to post monetary benefit with a healthy amount of news affecting so many diverse neighborhoods.

    As you know, Rev. King established the MIA, Montgomery Improvement Board, to rebuff the NAACP in their attempt to create change. What the MIA did in one year was more than the NAACP had done in decades in regards to progress. And the MIA is noted to have started the Civil Rights Movement.

    Nice post, and continue to be vocal on this topic.

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  2. Anonymous10/14/2007

    Typo - Montgomery Improvement Association.

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  3. Anonymous10/18/2007

    FORT WAYNE - On October 18, 2007, the Fort Wayne/Allen County Branch of NAACP tragically lost its fight for life. The branch's legal guardian, Rev. Mike Latham, pulled the plug on the organization's life-support when he canceled the Freedom Fund Banquet, the organization's major annual fundraiser.

    "Despite the fact that this is a city election year, we only managed to sell about two dozen tickets," Rev. Latham said. "Maybe the fact that we haven't actually done anything in the past two years hurt the branch."

    For Latham, the death of the NAACP is just the latest in a series of failures. Earlier this year, he lost the cushy state job the governor awarded him for prostituting himself and the branch by appearing in campaign commercials for then-candidate Mitch Daniels. An Indianapolis Star investigation revealed that Latham didn't even bother to do anything to earn the $60,000 per year that the state was giving him for a job he was unqualified to do.

    Later, Latham became sick from a mysterious illness that led to rumors of his own death.

    "I'm not dead," Latham smiled. "It's just the NAACP that's decomposing."

    When asked whether he took any responsibility for the branch's demise, Latham quickly blamed his board members and general members for allowing him to lead so poorly. However, when reminded that he himself appointed most of the branch's top officers and used donations to purchase memberships for his congregation in order to win his last two elections, Latham stopped and smiled.

    "Oh, yeah," Latham grinned."I guess I really don't have anyone but myself to blame. Oh, wait - it's the media's fault. I never called for a boycott of Wal-Mart despite what the video showed me saying!"

    With the loss of revenue from the Freedom Fund Banquet, Latham was asked whether monies collected over the past two years from the NAACP's United For A Change campaign at Scott's could help the branch.

    "No. That's MY money... I mean, that's for youth," Latham shouted. "We bought new video games, TV monitors, fooseball tables and other items that are at my church. But those are for the youth."

    An audit revealed that not one penny of the Scott's money ever made it into NAACP coffers. When asked what youth have been helped from the program, after naming some relatives and a few members of his congregation, Latham paused.

    "Did you know that I couldn't read when I graduated from high school?" Latham frowned in an effort to divert the conversation.

    Services for the Fort Wayne NAACP are pending. Donations can be made to any organization that is actually doing something to help black people in our community.

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  4. anonymous

    Great editorial..you took the words right of my mouth and some other folks too !!!

    ReplyDelete