Monday, August 9, 2010

Chester NAACP addresses State of Emergency

I am not a fan of the Chester NAACP for I don't see them doing much around the city other than staging a big banquet once a year. However, they were responsible for helping charter the new NAACP student chapter at Widener last year and there's always hope that Ben Jealous and his national crew can make enough noise for folks to begin to take the NAACP seriously again.
I must confess that I was very impressed with the open letter local president Darrell Jones wrote to Mayor Butler. Of course, in the spirit of these kinda letters, there were too many flowery words surrounding the real important stuff, but I must admit that I've had trouble articulating my problem with the state of emergency as well as he did in the following statements...


...define your proclamation in such a way that all of the citizens know what to expect and understand what behavior is to be deterred. Under the language in your proclamation there is no clear understanding of what constitutes a “legitimate reason” and there is no clear example of what a Chester citizen must do when approached by a Chester police officer after curfew hours.
I suggest to you to commit to a deliberate and well thought out plan that involves the community in the beginning and not the end. 

The point I was trying to make about the state of emergency when I compared it to Kingston and Brooklyn was that the Chester SOE was so ambiguous compared to theirs. In fact, it was so misunderstood that Mayor Butler was still trying to explain it during the press conference announcing that the SOE was lifted (see video when asked what the 62 citations were written for).

Thanks Darrell Jones for making it clear that it wasn't clear.

Click HERE to read the Open Letter

13 comments:

  1. Mr. Jones the NAACP in our city of CHESTER is a joke. Here are my reasons. 1. When was the last time they did something in the city of Chester besides their annual dinner. 2. 90% of the decisions by City Council Mr. Jones is opposed to. (This was before Ms. West and mr. Linder). 3. Their building is a piece of crap, the sign in the front of the buliding looks like it has been there since 1950 and the inside has papers and junk all over the place. 4 The NAACP is suppose to be bi partisan but I cant tell. 5. I have not seen you at any of the Mayors rally's and i have been to 7 out of 8 of them (I am a DEM and I care about our City). 6. PLEASE BE ACTIVE IN OUR CITY OR LET A QUALIFIED PERSON RUN THE NAACP.

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  2. Well, this is the pot calling the kettle black. You are not a fan of the NAACP because all you see them do is stage a big banquet once a year. May I remind you that this is a banquet you had no problems with participating in. Did you make your complaints the night you attended their banquet? Or just look good as you gave out awards.

    I find it interesting that you start out with an insult but ended with some nice compliments of the NAACP. All you people do is talk around each other. Stop talking out of one side of your mouth...Is anything going to change in Chester...

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  3. Sorry. You must be mistaking me for someone else. I only briefly attended one NAACP banquet at Harrahs as a guest of Comcast . I've never been asked to buy a ticket, buy and ad, be honored, or to present awards and they never advertised their banquet in the Chester Spotlight or requested coverage. Let me know if the NAACP does something other than the banquet. I'd love to post it here. And my complaint and compliment of the Chester NAACP is sincere. Why is it so hard to accept?

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  4. Wasn't the NAACP banquet advertised on this blog? You had a big write up about it.

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  5. Sorry again. On April 24th I did a post Chester NAACP celebrates 100th Anniversary and provided a link to a Daily Time article written by Loretta Rodgers. She was there, not me.
    I don't sell advertising on this blog...yet. I've never received a dime in advertising revenue from the NAACP.

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  6. There is never going to be the right thing to say in reference to Chester's NAACP. We as citizens have not supported the organiation the way we should. Membership should be up, but it isn't. We are always ready to critisise. Why not help. Bring something to the table to enhance the orgainization. There is always room for improvement. Stop complaining! Help. Be proactive. We have more folks complaining than helping. If you want to see a difference, make a difference. Help, bring your talent, your gifts, your availability. Walk the talk.

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  7. Sorry, I guess I got you mixed up with the rest of the hypocrites.

    Yes, it is still hard to accept your sincerity but thanks for clearing it up.

    PS: The NAACP, to me as an observer, represents a vocal group. When something big happens (as in the recent Sherrod incident), they voice their opinions. The open letter represents their style. Local or National, the NAACP does not have much if any political power.

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  8. To Anonymous#4.
    I've brought my talent of community journalism to Chester nearly 5 years ago and I have not received a single submission from the Chester NAACP. How can they expect anyone to join their organization if they don't communicate their mission to the community? Why would they submit that open letter to the Daily Times, the very paper they need to be investigating for their total absence of minority employees? If supporting the NAACP means buying a banquet ticket, sorry, I'm not your guy. Where's the membership drives? Where's the community activism? I believe people are frustrated enough around here to want to join and follow a serious organization committed to fighting for jobs, education, health, housing, and political accountability. When the NAACP is ready to reach out to the community and share their mission, goal, and desire for membership, have them come to the C-City Blogger. I will post whatever they send. That also applies to any other organization in town that will step up...Shriners, Elks, Masons, Churches, Frats & Sororities, Boy scouts, government, business owners or individuals.

    To Anonymous #5
    Where have I been hypocritical? Mr. Jones made a great point about the State of Emergency...congrats. The Chester NAACP is underachieving in a community that needs them badly...that's a fact. Can't see why that's so hard to understand.

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  9. I am a African American woman who sadly thinks the the NAACP is useless especially the Chester-Branch. Instead of releaseing letters about what the Mayor did and did not do how about helping NAAdvancement of Colored People? Are they Chester residents? If you are a hard working, tax paying resident, and did not agree with the State of Emergency You have to be crazy; there was a 100% difference on East and West 21st, 22nd,& 23rd ST. I commend the Chester Police, State Police, Sheriffs Department and Mayor Butler for cutting his puppet strings and making a decision on his own to call the State of Emergency.

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  10. Who else thinks it was exclusively the Mayor's decision to conduct and coordinate a State of Emergency? Did anyone else besides me and Mr. Jones find the proclamation ambiguous?

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  11. Stef i found the SOE ambiguous, but i am not the person they were after or cared about. I know there are some "bad" cops i am a black man and have been pulled over for no reason. I have to side with the Mayor and support him on this. I traveled throught out the city several time during the SOE after curfew to see what was going on and I had know incident. its over and Mr. Jones and the NAACP DO SOMETHING PLEASE

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  12. I doubt if there is a single person in Chester who doesn't support efforts to stem violence. I believe folks would be a lot less critical if they felt they had some opportunity to provide input in solutions as opposed to being dictated to. To build trust in government they must show trust in their citizenry.

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  13. Outsider looking in ; With all the violence in Chester , with the youth is such disarray , I would have though , or expected them to step up to the plate . They sure make a stick where there is perceived prejudice involved against blacks . Now if a black asserts prejudice againts another , should they be involved to prevant prejudice from happening where any black is involved . one side or the other . It is racist with blacks involved . They have really failed the community that they claim to serve .

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