Trouble at local NAACP chapter

By Andrew Amelinckx and John Mason
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

COLUMBIA COUNTY — The county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is working to up its membership. President Alan Skerrett said he was told by Regional Director Anne Pope in 2006 that the chapter must bring its enrollment to a viable number in order to continue to operate.

Currently, membership is at 27; Skerrett’s goal is to bring it up to 50, while the national organization would like to see it at 100. Annual membership dues are $30.

His focus on that goal makes some people impatient. James White, who served as acting vice-president for a period, stepped down in November, claiming, in a recent visit to the Register-Star, that “this chapter is dead.”

Despite his title, White was not a member of the chapter or the larger NAACP organization.

The NAACP is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the country and works to “ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination,” according to the organization’s Web site.

White said that problems between himself and “a few other members,” including Skerrett and chapter Treasurer Carrie Waterhouse, led to his stepping down.

“We’ve got in-house fighting,” complained White. “We’re not on the same page.”

One area of contention is what White perceives as a limited view of the chapter’s goals.

He said when he took the position of vice-president he had several goals he believed the organization should focus on, including working to improve area education, encouraging students to graduate from high school, assisting residents with job training, improving housing and others.

“The things he talked about are things we talked about doing once we become a viable chapter,” Skerrett said. “You don’t beat the drums until you have the substance behind you. The national organization prioritizes membership.”

White said the other members had limited ideas and personal agendas.

“They’re targeting DSS,” he said. The proposed move of the Department of Social Services from the city of Hudson to the former Ockawamick School in Claverack has been controversial.

“The issue came up during a meeting that we should collaborate with other people who are resisting the Ockawamick move,” Skerrett said. “People are interested in intervening in the process to voice our collective thoughts about the move to Ockawamick and the hardships it will create for the people it would serve. That’s one of the issues we’ve addressed.

“But the major issue is: We have 27 members, when we’re supposed to have 50,” he said. “He [White] hasn’t brought one member into the fold.”

“[Skerrett] doesn’t give a d— about the other side of the river,” said White. “It’s important to bridge the two sides of the river.”

White said he was responsible for having the chapter include Greene County in the organization, but that it was represented in name only.

The current charter for the chapter is just for Columbia County. Skerrett told White, who is from Catskill, that if he could bring members in from Greene County, they could apply for a charter that would include both counties. He said he appointed him interim vice-president with this in mind.

“James’s mission in joining the NAACP is no different from ours,” Skerrett said, “except that we have to focus on membership right now. How can we advocate without a valid chapter?

”White said the other area the chapter has focussed on was alleged discrimination in the Hudson City School District.

He said he felt that Waterhouse was using the organization to “intimidate” the school district administration. Waterhouse has two children in the district.

“Carrie has never used the NAACP at any event where she has spoken with school administrators or teachers,” Skerrett said. “She has had her personal issues with the school district, and deals with them at a personal level, but doesn’t bring the NAACP into the mix. His accusation — this is a very serious allegation — is untrue.”

White said there were also conflicts concerning his attempt to market the chapter. He said the chapter had a mandate from the national organization to increase membership.

“James does music,” Skerrett said. “He wants us to have events where he can do the music and get paid for it, so he’s angry at me.”

White said he wanted to “bring and put in place ways to ... attract membership.”

“They want to use a p.o. box to communicate,” he said. “I’m talking about telecommunicating.”

Skerrett responded that a landline telephone is an unjustified expense given the chapter’s current situation.

White felt that one problem he had with the group involved a different approach to problem solving.

“I deal with things straight up,” said the former U.S. Marine and New York City EMS member.

He said that the rest of the chapter’s leadership was too laid back to achieve much.

“Their laid back way of working doesn’t work,” he said.

Skerrett said he was ready to retire this year, but the hard work of members such as Waterhouse, Lynn Sloneker and Maija Reed, who he said White was paranoid about, convinced him to stay. Dan and Mary Udell of Taghkanic recently joined and helped the organization pick up a little steam, he said.“

James has done nothing, except say apply for grants,” he said. “We don’t need no ... grant. He has a different slant on the community: He blames them for their own problems.

“We want to educate people with information, see if we can get parents involved, and work to firm the ground up to solve the problems we have,” Skerrett said. “The NAACP is not the voice of the community in Hudson. We’re interested in cooperating with other organizations who want to participate with us to address issues on a more systemic level.”