May 18, 2008 3:59 pm US/Eastern
NAACP Elects Youngest President In Its History
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ―
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Benjamin Jealous, 35, is the new president of the NAACP.
CBS
A new chapter began for the NAACP Saturday after it elected the youngest president in its history.
Peggy Lee reports the election of this new president has significant meaning for the future of the organization.
Benjamin Jealous, 35, appeared at ease as he greeted members of the association he will now be leading.
Jealous was named as the 17th president of the NAACP, a position left vacant by the abrupt resignation of Bruce Gordon in March 2007.
"This is a great day for the NAACP on the announcement of a new leader for NAACP. As you know, his name is Benjamin Jealous. He's a Rhodes Scholar, a man of enormous achievement at a very young age," said Julian Bond, NAACP chairman.
"This is a big day. Across the country there are people in my generation who have checked out of this organization, and this is my day to say it is time to check back in," said Jealous.
Jealous was chosen by the 64-member board after an eight hour, closed-door meeting.
He began his professional life in 1991 with the NAACP, where he worked as a community organizer with the Legal Defense Fund working on issues of health care access in Harlem. His family boasts five generations of NAACP membership.
During the mid 1990s, Jealous was managing editor of the Jackson Advocate, Mississippi's oldest black newspaper.
From 1999 to 2002, Jealous led the country's largest group of black community newspapers as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Jealous left the Publishers Association for Amnesty International to direct its U.S. Human Rights Program, for which he successfully lobbied for federal legislation against prison rape, public disapproval of racial profiling after Sept. 11, and exposure of widespread sentencing of children to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Since 2005, Jealous has served as president of the Rosenberg Foundation, a private institution that supports civil and human rights advocacy. His experiences caught the attention of the NAACP's search committee, and Jealous said mentors encouraged him to take the job.
While the nomination is a cause for celebration, the crown Jealous is inheriting is burdened with tough tasks.
His predecessor, Bruce Gordon, resigned after clashing with board members over how the organization was being run.
Among his plans for the group are strengthening its online presence to connect with activists, mobilize public opinion and build a database for tracking racial discrimination and hate crimes; ensuring high voter turnout among blacks in the November election; pushing an aggressive civil rights agenda, regardless of the makeup of the Congress or White House; and retooling the national office to make it more effective at helping local branches affect change in their communities.
He said he does not see expect to have the challenges with NAACP leadership of which his predecessor complained.
"I was raised in the civil rights movement," Jealous said. "I don't see anything special here that would be a challenge that I haven't confronted and dealt effectively with before. These are my people."
Jealous must now find a way to relocate the NAACP's headquarters from Baltimore to Washington D.C., something the group wants but hasn't been able to cover the estimated $20 million moving costs.
The road ahead may be paved with problems, but all involved seem eager to face them.
"I am very confident that he has the ability to do it. We've got a strong working staff on board ready to step up and help him to get it done," said Dennis Courtland Hayes, NAACP Interim President.
Though he is not a politician, minister or civil rights icon, Jealous provides the organization with a young but connected chief familiar with black leadership and social justice issues.
"So thank you. I'm deeply humbled, and I'm looking forward to getting to work," said Jealous.
Jealous was born in Pacific Grove, Calif., and educated at Columbia University and Oxford University
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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