The NAACP has decided that it will not renew the contract of its current president and CEO, ousting Cornell Brooks from the organization’s helm after only three years.
NAACP Chairman Leon Russell and Vice Chair Derrick Johnson told reporters in a telephone call Friday afternoon that the change was due to a needed restructuring of the organization, according to USA Today. They are aiming for moves that will better equip the group as they take on President Donald Trump on issues like voting rights and the justice system.
“Our executive committee, looking at itself, looking at our organization and reviewing where we’ve come from in the last three year, made a decision that we believe is in the best interest for this organization,” Russell said.
According to The New York Times, the civil rights group has struggled to be a leading voice amidst the Black Lives Matter movement:
“The group, which has been eclipsed in many ways by the more youthful Black Lives Matter movement and the broader opposition to Mr. Trump, is embarking on a listening tour of cities across the nation to get ideas about how it can remain relevant,” the Times reports.
As for Brooks, his contract expires at the end of June, and he found out about his dismissal in a letter he received on Thursday.
“The NAACP has had a revolving door of CEOs and this is a particularly bad moment for the door to be spinning, so it’s disappointing,” Brooks said. “For all the people out here who have been imperiled because of police misconduct, because of voter suppression, schools imperiled because of segregation and under-funding, distraction is not what we need.”
They have yet to name a new president.
