Just a few years ago, the city was the last place such an event would be held. Having strengthened its feeble ranks in recent years, the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP will host the weeklong national convention of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization beginning Friday. Not only is it unusual that the Cincinnati branch got the call, considering that its utter relevancy was being questioned before its relatively recent upswing in membership, but the city itself was deemed a pariah just a short while ago by Black leaders because of alleged racial insensitivity among city officials. Charges of police brutality sparked several days of rioting in 2001, following the police killing of a suspect, and NAACP leaders steered African Americans away from Cincinnati. But last year the chapter’s members rose almost threefold, from 750 members to 2,000 members, and Christopher Smitherman, the branch president, is being credited with the turnaround. So, when the organization’s 8,000 delegates descend upon Cincinnati on Friday, all eyes will be on the rejuvenated chapter. The fact that the presumptive presidential candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, will be on hand only adds to the attention. ...
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Just a few years ago, the city was the last place such an event would be held. Having strengthened its feeble ranks in recent years, the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP will host the weeklong national convention of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization beginning Friday. Not only is it unusual that the Cincinnati branch got the call, considering that its utter relevancy was being questioned before its relatively recent upswing in membership, but the city itself was deemed a pariah just a short while ago by Black leaders because of alleged racial insensitivity among city officials. Charges of police brutality sparked several days of rioting in 2001, following the police killing of a suspect, and NAACP leaders steered African Americans away from Cincinnati. But last year the chapter’s members rose almost threefold, from 750 members to 2,000 members, and Christopher Smitherman, the branch president, is being credited with the turnaround. So, when the organization’s 8,000 delegates descend upon Cincinnati on Friday, all eyes will be on the rejuvenated chapter. The fact that the presumptive presidential candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, will be on hand only adds to the attention. ...