NAACP suspension is against bylaws, local leader charges

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, April 26, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Leaders of the Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP claim the national organization's president violated bylaws when he decided last weekend to suspend the local branch and officers for a year.

Gene Collins, president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said bylaws require the board of directors to conduct a hearing before suspending officers.

Hearings earlier this month were held in response to membership issues and concerns about recent elections, including one in November in which Collins defeated Lonie Chaney by four votes.

The closed-door hearings focused on whether everyone who voted in the last election was a member, but never touched on officers, Collins said.

"What we found is (NAACP President Kweisi Mfume) violated the constitution and bylaws of the branch," Collins said. "In order to suspend a member or officer you must have a hearing. We were not afforded that luxury."

Messages left with the NAACP headquarters in Baltimore and its regional offices in Salt Lake City were not returned today.

Collins said the severe punishment handed down has little to do with operations at the local branch and more to do with money.

Membership is at an all-time high, and the chapter fought more civil rights cases than it has in years past, Collins said. It was when he asked MGM MIRAGE to pitch in $100 million to help redevelop West Las Vegas that rumblings began, he said.

Collins said that because worldwide casinos are typically built in predominantly black neighborhoods, he asked the gaming giant to give back to the community. He said the money would have been used to improve education as well as services in lower-income neighborhoods.

He said that because Wall Street controls gaming, the proposal caught investors' attention.

"A lot of people might not have understood what we were trying to do, but we understood," Collins said. "The thing is when we started addressing the issue, then Wall Street started getting itchy.

"If we have gone and addressed the issue of diversity in the United States and South Africa and Wall Street doesn't want us to, guess what happens?"

Although the national organization's leaders have said their ruling cannot be appealed, Collins said local chapter members will meet this evening at 6:30 to discuss the branch's options. The meeting will be held at the NAACP office at 3925 N. Martin Luther King Blvd.

Collins said he plans to address the alleged violations of the bylaws and his intent to continue badgering the gaming industry for money to fund neighborhoods they affect.

"Whether I'm the president of this organization or not, we are not going away."