I joined the old NAACP because I wanted to be a voice for the young folks and to try to get some young folks to join with me. My main concern was that I wanted to be a voice for those who felt like they were not being represented. I was welcomed into the old NAACP basically because I was the youngest person to attend the meetings. This made them look good. Because I traveled around the county to different meetings taking notes and did my homework I became very knowledgeable of what was going on in the county. I also learned a lot of people. I reported what I knew at the Old NAACP meetings and therefore those others who didn’t do anything but attend the meetings, I became a threat to the old NAACP because I could challenge them on how I saw the direction we needed to take. When I began to challenge my peers by running for vice president positions, they had no choice but to allow me to serve because again a young black male made the organization look good.

I am not saying that the old NAACP didn’t do some good things, however I feel they didn’t do enough and held us back in time. I continued to challenge the old NAACP until finally about 3 years ago the old NAACP turned into the new NAACP. The new NAACP is lead by Andre’ Knight a 37 year old, God-fearing black male. Andre’ has brought the new NAACP into the 21^st Century with a new sense of direction. Because of Andre’s vision and along with new officers, the NAACP has a headquarters equipped with necessities to handle the work of the NAACP. The office is open during the day and when no volunteers is there one can leave a message.

Andre’ Knight and the new NAACP has challenged many injustices in the Twin County. On the Edgecombe side of Rocky Mount Edgecombe Community College recently named Debra Lamm the new director to replace Hartwell Fuller who retired. Andre’ addressed the college board about diversity within the system and Lamm has appointed several blacks to key positions. There are some whites in the system who are mad with Andre’ because they say he is responsible for them not getting those positions. Of course Andre’ is no stranger to Edgecombe Community College because he used to teach GED until he purchased one of the most prestigious piece of real estate in Nash County in the white community the old Gregory’s house which is a beautiful 2 story home with a bricked wall around the estate. Andre’ was fired because he was trying to put an Adult Daycare facility at the property and the community spoke out against it.

Also on the Edgecombe County side several months ago Andre’ and myself spoke out against our Edgecombe County Commissioner and former Health Board Chairman T.C. Cherry a white male who had the audacity to walk into a black male supervisor’s office and tell him to kiss his ass. The problem at the health department is that there are only a few blacks that works there. Andre’ and myself addressed the health board and T.C. was removed from the chair position. We addressed the commissioners and T.C. was removed from the health board. Some said that Andre’ and myself had no bearing on those decisions but we don’t care what they say as long as we see things happen.

On the Nash side Andre’ and the new NAACP has had to address several issues. On the Edgecombe County side of Rocky Mount, our 2^nd vice president Mattie Hinton addressed the Dr. Martin L. King Statue that was erected in the MLK Park that didn’t look like King. Andre’ and the new NAACP held a town hall meeting and during that meeting we found out who was responsible for signing off on the way King looked. The answer was that 3 white persons who worked for the city chose the way King looked. The King Committee could only choose the dress attire and his stance. The problem was that the King Committee should have been a part of choosing how King looked. The community didn’t like the statue and today the statue is in a warehouse until the new statue is completed and erected which is scheduled to happen in time for the King Celebrations in January.

The most recent issue that Andre’ and the new NAACP has addressed is the special call meeting to hire the new Nash-Rocky Mount Schools superintendent. The Nash-Rocky Mount School Board forced the former superintendent Dr. George Norris to resign. Within 2 weeks the board went on a secret mission to hire Rick McMahon who came in 2^nd place behind Dr. Norris 5 years ago. When we received a call about the school board was going to meet the next day to discuss hiring the superintendent, Andre’ began to make some phone calls to the black school board members to see where they stood on the issue. The vice chair Evelyn Bulluck (black female) did not return Andre’s call but had the audacity to say that she had contacted community leaders during her motion on the floor. Bulluck did not respond to Andre’ the president of the new NAACP and Rocky Mount City Councilman Ward 1 in which Bulluck as a school board member should be mindful that she need to be responsive to Andre’ because of the titles that he hold. Andre and the new NAACP are challenging the process of the hiring of the new superintendent and we are seeking answers because the board would not allow us to address them during the special call meeting. It is our belief that the position was not posted on the Nash-Rocky Mount Schools Website, in the newspaper and other. I have not talked to anyone who says they saw the posting on the web or any place. The school board saw fit to suspend their policy for hiring a new superintendent but they say they followed the process.

I want to challenge all blacks the old and the young to get involved in the NAACP. I appreciate the old NAACP however Andre’ and the new NAACP has a new vision and that is to "Speak Truth To Power."

Curmilus Dancy II –The Political Agitator

Unbought & Unbossed

Publisher/Editor The DCN News Blog

2^nd Vice President & Life Subscribing Member Rocky Mount NAACP