A prestigious group of black leaders has called for NAACP Chairman William F. Gibson to resign and formed an "SOS" committee to "save" the civil rights organization.
The 30-member group, which includes federal judges, present and former NAACP board members, NAACP state conference presidents and others, has called a Washington news conference today to form a blue-ribbon committee of "unquestioned integrity and character."
Julian Bond, a civil rights veteran and one of the group's leaders, said the committee had formed to "reassure the general public there are distinguished and respected figures that have their eyes on this organization and its best interests at heart."
But the Rev. Joseph P. Lowery, chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and also billed in a press release as a leader of the effort, said he was not calling for Dr. Gibson's resignation.
Dr. Lowery said he had told C. DeLores Tucker, founder of the National Political Congress of Black Women and an organizer of the SOS group, that he would serve on an "impartial panel to help restore the NAACP." Dr. Tucker could not be reached.
Dr. Gibson, reached at his South Carolina home, characterized the group as motivated by "some very sour grapes" and a desire to take control of the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The NAACP chairman, who has been criticized for spending $800,000 in NAACP funds over the past decade, said the debt-ridden organization was on the road to financial recovery.
He said the nation's largest civil rights group was raising $50,000 a day, enough to meet expenses, and that he had not accepted any reimbursement since Aug. 13.
Dr. Gibson said 24 NAACP employees were called back to work this week, bringing to a total of 50 staff members who are back on the job out of 88 who were laid off in October. He said all but 13 employees would be recalled by year's end.