Amid rumors and speculation regarding turmoil within the East St. Louis chapter of the NAACP, the national office suspended former East St. Louis NAACP president Stanley Franklin, according to State President Teresa Haley.
When I asked Ms. Haley about the cause for Franklin’s suspension, she declined to comment on the specifics, saying the decision was made at the national level and had no further comment.
Since that interview with Haley, Franklin unceremoniously submitted his resignation without further comment.
In the interim, local VP of the ESL chapter, Andrew Bailey will perform Franklin’s role until a final decision or permanent replacement is made.
But based upon multiple sources who commented under the condition of anonymity, Franklin allegedly attempted to remove the ESL branch of the NAACP as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit without consulting the local, state or national offices.
This lawsuit charged that gerrymandering of the legislative district impacting ESL would dilute the voting power of the city and minimize its ability to choose their state representative, a seat currently held by State Representative LaToya Greenwood.
Such redrawing of legislative maps as the result of the census have led to new redistricting plans nationally, having a disproportionately adverse effect on communities of color. So Franklin’s alleged actions would be questionable if not suspect.
However, for anyone who has followed Franklin’s leadership of the ESL NAACP over the past decade, it should come as no surprise his seeming tone deafness and aloof management of the organization have been both controversial as well as baffling at times.
In this space I reported that, back in 2014, during their annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet, Franklin awarded three out of four scholarships to non-black students who attended the prestigious Governor French Academy of Belleville, IL, ignoring the obvious and awkward visual optics and insult to the African American community of East St. Louis.
In 2019, despite a pending five-count federal lawsuit which alleged East St. Louis School District 189 Superintendent Arthur Culver made “repeated unwelcome (sexual) advances and made sexually explicit remarks to a female employee,” Franklin awarded Culver with the “Education and Commitment” award without even waiting on the outcome of the lawsuit.Â
The sexual harassment case was dismissed, but Culver was also accused of harassing a female employee, then firing her in retaliation. The trial is set for trial in May 2022.
And it’s even more disappointing that Franklin, a former member of the Nation of Islam, an organization synonymous with black pride, respect for Black women and doing for self, would so callously engage in such activities which do nothing to promote the “advancement of colored people” or humanity for that matter.
So, the national NAACP office may have done the East St. Louis chapter a favor in dismissing leadership that is clearly out of touch with the community and the people he purportedly failed with his disservice over the past decade.
