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Doug Mann's weblog
Wednesday, 31 August 2005
Still no audit of Minneapolis NAACP branch books?
Topic: NAACP
-
An audit of the Minneapolis NAACP branch & NAACP Parent Information Centers financial books and records was supposed to be underway by the end of April 2005 and completed by sometime in May or early June 2005. However, at the branch Executive Committee meeting in late June, Branch President Duane Reed reported that the auditor was still asking for more information. And at the EC meeting in August there was still no audit and no written report about the audit.

THREE BANK ACCOUNTS OR TEN?

On 25 March 2005 Doug Mann and Carol White were removed from the Minneapolis NAACP Executive Committee for calling 2 special EC meetings, on 25 February and 17 March 2005, to address the EC's noncompliance with findings of the bookkeeper, Mr. Jamal, which were reported to an irregular meeting of the EC on 8 February 2005. One of Mr. Jamal's findings was that an audit of the financial books and records was legally required.

At the Special EC meeting on Feb 25 it was also reported that Mr. Jamal had informed those who attended the 8 February 2005 meeting that the branch had 10 bank accounts, at that moment. However, Branch Treasurer Jesse Overton, who organized and attended the 8 Feb 2005 meeting, subsequently submitted written reports to the Executive Committee and branch membership which indicated that the branch only had 3 bank accounts, plus a few special restricted-use accounts.

ABOUT THAT MISSING $86,000

In 2001 a member of the Minneapolis NAACP Executive Committee, Ron Edwards started asking about the disappearance of about $86,000 that the branch had cleared from a 'Freedom Fund' banquet in November 2000, where Nelson Mandela spoke. Edwards' perseverance in posing that question and demanding an audit of the branch books eventually forced branch officers to admit that $86,000 had disappeared. Mr.Edwards was expelled from the NAACP in the fall of 2003.

At a branch meeting in mid-2003, acting Treasurer Sam Richardson reported that approximately $86,000 in missing funds had been invested, but offered no specifics. And at a subsequent NAACP branch meeting in the summer of 2003, President Albert Galmon reported that the $86,000 had been traced to accounts at Piper-Jaffrey / US Bank, but further information about that was not forthcoming.

The mysterious $86,000 investment is reportedly an off the books "loan" to an officer of the NAACP branch and his business partners for investment in grocery stores that soon went under. There was never a written agreement to repay the loan.

Even if the relevant branch financial records have been destroyed, the missing $86,000 can be tracked down by an auditor with access to the necessary bank records for the calendar years 2001 and 2002. Bank records are supposed to be kept intact for a minimum of 6 years.

As I have previously reported in "Minneapolis NAACP branch audit and hidden records" (see link below), the branch treasurer, Jesse Overton reported that the audit would only cover the years 2003 and 2004. The last audit was done in 1998.

MINNEAPOLIS NAACP BRANCH AUDIT &HIDDEN RECORDS
by Doug Mann, In two parts

Part One
*MINNEAPOLIS NAACP TO HAVE FULL AUDIT ONLY FOR 2003-2004
*Post to Mpls issue list by Booker Hodges, 2nd VP, Mpls NAACP
https://educationright.tripod.com/id461.htm

Part Two
*MOTION TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW RULED "OUT OF ORDER"
*THE $85,000 LOAN FOR INVESTMENT IN GROCERY STORES
*NAACP MEMBERS HAVE NO RIGHTS THEIR OFFICERS MUST RESPECT
https://educationright.tripod.com/id463.htm

Also see:
Breeding, Overton and Reed must go: Report to NAACP branch Exec. Ctte meeting of 3-17-05, by Doug Mann.
https://educationright.tripod.com/id449.htm

Posted by educationright at 2:41 PM CDT
Updated: Sunday, 4 September 2005 12:04 AM CDT
Saturday, 23 April 2005
Did Minneapolis NAACP loan $85,000 for investment in grocery stores
Topic: NAACP
Subj: Re: [Mpls] Did Mpls NAACP branch "loan" $85, 000 for investment in grocery st...
Date: 4/6/2005 6:24:31 PM Central Standard Time
From: Socialist2001
To: eric mitchell, t madden, mpls@mnforum.org

Also see: "Ron Edwards comments on Mpls issues forum discussion"
re: Did Mpls NAACP branch "loan" $85,000 for investment in grocery stores.
Blog Post by Ron Edwards, April 5, 2005
https://educationright.tripod.com/id460.htm

In a message dated 4/1/2005 3:03:18 PM Central Daylight Time, eric mitchell writes:

<< ...Clearly this is about a small group who cannot get elected to run the Mpls NAACP so they have decided to run the once credible organization into the ground... >>

[Comment by Doug Mann]
For the past 6 years the Minneapolis Branch has been run more like a mutual aid society for African-American politicians and businessmen than a civil rights and human rights advocacy organization. The NAACP leadership has been using its influence as representative of an oppressed people as a bargaining chip in back door deals to help their friends get jobs, contracts, etc.

The situation here reflects a shift by the National NAACP leadership toward a closer relationship with the Democratic Party in 1995. Kweisi Mfume was appointed President / CEO that year. The NAACP has also oriented itself more and more toward black professionals and their networks of friends and business associates.

In Minneapolis, Mfume's administration helped a slate headed by Ricky Campbell, representing a conservative faction within the NAACP branch, win an election of officers in 1999, with considerable help from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the Links (a club for well-to-do, college-educated African-Americans). The Cambell group represented a fairly small minority of members who regularly attended meetings, worked on committees, etc.

The settlement of the NAACP educational adequacy lawsuit in 2000 is a good example of the back door deals mentioned above. The settlement stipulated that the NAACP agreed that "the choice is yours program" (a limited, one-way city-to-suburb bussing program) and other provisions of the settlement "solved the problem" of students of color getting an inadequate education.

In my opinion, the settlement agreement was not consistent with educational policy statements approved by any NAACP convention that I know about. The basic problem since the 1890's has been the segregation of black students into inferior schools and into "low-ability" curriculum tracks in racially integrated schools.

The NAACP educational settlement also set far lower standards for the Minneapolis School District than Minnesota's "Voluntary" Desegregation Rule with respect to giving students in racially identifiable schools the right to attend schools that are not racially identifiable, and with respect to accountability measures. For example, the Deseg rule states that the commissioner of education shall ask for, and the district shall provide, in its deseg plan, specific information needed to determine if resources are equitably distributed, including data on teacher qualifications and experience. The Minneapolis School District and the MN Dept. of Education are not in compliance with the Desegregation rule, and you don't hear a peep out of the NAACP leadership about that.

The NAACP's contract with the MN Department of Ed to run Parent Information Centers was the NAACP's payoff for betraying its constituency and supporting the status quo.

The NAACP leadership, at the branch and national level, also repeatedly took actions in relation to monitoring implementation of the Hollman Consent Decree (the settlement of a housing discrimination lawsuit) that served the interests of the city of Minneapolis (one of the defendants) at the expense of the plaintiff class. See:

The Fight Against Urban Cleansing and Gentrification in Minneapolis
https://educationright.tripod.com/id41.htm

Hollman Achieves
https://educationright.tripod.com/id290.htm

-Doug Mann, King Field
Bureaucratically removed member at large
Minneapolis NAACP branch executive committee

Posted by educationright at 8:46 PM CDT
Updated: Saturday, 23 April 2005 10:20 PM CDT
Appeal of Removal from NAACP branch exec. committee
Topic: NAACP
Subj: Appeal of removal from NAACP branch Executive Committee
Date: 4/8/2005 7:56:43 PM Central Standard Time
From: Socialist2001
To: mpls@mnforum.org
-------------------------
From: Doug Mann
3619 Grand Ave S
Minneapolis MN 55409

To: [by certified mail] Chief of National Field Operations
Department of Branch and Field Services
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215

CC: [by certified mail] Dennis Courtland Hayes,
Acting President and CEO, National NAACP
CC: [by certified mail] James Ghee, Chair of National Committee on Branches
CC: Members, NAACP National Board of Directors
CC: Members, Minneapolis NAACP Branch Executive Committee

April 8, 2005

Dear Chief of Field Operations,

Enclosed is a copy of a letter dated March 24, 2005 from Carl Breeding, Level II administrator (with my immediate response, distributed at the Mpls. branch membership meeting [of 26 March 2005], on the reverse side), in which Mr. Breeding writes,

"...I have determined that your conduct has been inimical to the best interest of the Minneapolis Branch NAACP and effective at 12:01 am, March 25, 2005, I am removing you, Douglas Mann, from the Executive Committee of the Minneapolis NAACP Branch."

I reject the allegation that my conduct has been inimical to the best interest of the Minneapolis NAACP Branch.

I request a full hearing.

Please immediately forward, or cause to be forwarded a report stating specifically what conduct is being characterized as inimical to the best interests of the Minneapolis NAACP branch and evidence to support that characterization of my conduct.

Sincerely,
[signed]
Doug Mann

-Doug Mann, King Field
Bureaucratically removed member at large
Minneapolis NAACP branch executive committee
www.educationright.com
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-

Posted by educationright at 8:39 PM CDT
Minneapolis NAACP membership drive targets black elite
Topic: NAACP
[Excerpt from]
Minneapolis Branch NAACP (Unit 4050)
Report to the executive committee
Membership Committee - Meeting the challenge 2005 and beyond
Submitted March 23, 2005
Stephanie Maggitt [Medtronic executive] - Membership chair

...The Membership Committee has adopted a goal of 500 new members for the 2005 calendar year. To reach its goal the membership committee will adopt a nine month campaign to increase the membership by 500.

STRATEGY

Key contact personnel will be established at all faith community places of worship within the Minneapolis area. Membership committee will direct the marketing and support activities to this group and identify volunteers from each church to support the goal of 200 new membership from this group.

Contacts will be established with the Fraternities and Sororities within the Twin Cities for soliciting their membership for membership with the NAACP. A goal of 50 new members has been set for this group.

Establish and identify key personnel within African American social organizations and solicit new members from each organization. Groups identified include but not limited to the Jack and Jill organization, The Links, The Boule, The Monitors and The Sterling Club. A goal of 50 new members has been set for this group.

Professional organizations such as the Black MBA, Black Accountants, Black Engineers, Black Lawyers and Black Medical will be targeted for Life memberships. 50 Life memberships have been set as a goal and 100 regular memberships has been set as a goal.

Black Employee Groups will be targeted and solicited for 150 new memberships. This group includes employees at American Express, Medtronic, Honeywell, General Mills, Best Buy, Target, GE, 3M, US Bank, and Wells Fargo.....

-Doug Mann
Bureaucratically removed member-at-large
Minneapolis NAACP branch executive committee

Posted by educationright at 8:29 PM CDT

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