NAACP local chapter stays afloat
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Leaders of the endangered NAACP chapter here are flashing the thumbs-up sign at the end of a membership drive that succeeded at keeping the civil rights organization afloat in Hawai'i.
• Annual membership fee is $30; $15 below age 21. • For more information, or to sign up, go to https://www .naacp.org/join.php. • Those who register online should type Honolulu-Hawaii in the "unit affiliation" box, and notify the Hawai'i group at naacphonoluluhi@hotmail.com. • Sign up by mail: Sending name and address, as well as the check payable to NAACP, to: Honolulu-Hawaii NAACP By phone, toll-free: (866) 63-NAACP (636-2227). • For information, call Benny King Jr., 671-4726.
In March, officers for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced that the Honolulu-Hawai'i NAACP was in danger of folding because membership had shrunk to about half the 50 required for its charter by the national organization.
Details on joining NAACP in Hawai'i
P.O. Box 6
Honolulu, HI 96810.
The group's drive culminated a week ago in a rally at Harris United Methodist Church, and now paid enrollment stands at 65, said Benny King Jr., the chapter's president.
The NAACP is generally viewed as an African American organization, but King has emphasized that it was founded as a multi-racial group to support civil rights generally. And in Hawai'i, the group is taking on the look of a rainbow coalition, with a full range of Isle ethnicities represented, King said.
King also expressed delight that the chapter is receiving support from other organizations. For example, he said, the NAACP is gearing up for events such as a forum on filing civil-rights complaints, to be cosponsored with the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission; and Martin Luther King Day socials with the African-American Association of Hawai'i.
"I've always wanted partnership and coordination with other organizations," he said, "and now it looks like it's going to happen."
King plans to alert the national organization before its convention in July that the Hawai'i chapter is alive and well, but he underscored that new members are still being sought. Having a presence online (see box) has helped with that, he said.
"We got some famous people that way," he said. "The University of Hawai'i president (Evan Dobelle) and his wife have joined, and (U.S. Rep.) Neil Abercrombie sent his check, too."
