Percy Green II, fresh off a birthday bash last Saturday, sent the following assessment of recent upheavals in the local ACLU:
In September 2004, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM) hired its first African-American executive director. Brenda Jones came to us with solid academic credentials and an impressive history as an administrator. She is also well respected in the community. Her hiring was a major project on the part of Adam Zaretsky, the then-new president of ACLU-EM’s Board of Trustees, who took an aggressive approach to racial diversity, in terms of board, membership and the cases and projects the group pursued.
While Jones was applauded by most board members, some interesting things began to happen on the road to diversity. We have to closely examine whether race played a role in the upheaval of an organization whose mission is to fight for civil liberties across racial lines. Or is the fact that the situation blew up under the first black executive director purely coincidental?
The ACLU’s local membership has been mainly older white and Jewish liberals and progressives. One of Zaretsky’s fresh ideas for advancing the group’s diversity program was to initiate a long-discussed term-limits policy for board members. Zaretsky immediately put together a diverse search committees to replace Matt LeMieux, the former head who had resigned, and he established a diverse executive committee.
Jones and Zaretsky were in sync with the new direction of the ACLU-EM. But grumbling began. People said Jones was not an attorney (which was never a pre-requisite for her position). A divisive, planned attack began when Denise Lieberman, legal director, resigned in June 2005. Two volunteer attorneys also resigned in protest. The behind-the-scene clique surfaced to challenge Jones’ and Zaretsky’s new initiatives to bring in younger people and more people of color.
The internal debates intensified and spilled into the public domain. The clique put forward Ray Hartmann, board member and public gadfly, as a candidate for board chair. This action was unprecedented, in that board chairs have always served three consecutive one-year terms, renewable after each year. Zaretsky had only served one year.
As the election neared, the politicking behind the scenes picked up speed and intensity. Calls were made to encourage members to come out and vote against Zaretsky. Hartmann was elected as the new board chair on July 31.
Jones, Hartmann and the ACLU-EM are now under scrutiny by members and the broader community to determine how much more this clique will prevail in derailing Zaretsky’s initiatives. The question is whether the organization’s commitment to diversity will transcend from lip service to reality – a direction in which it was headed prior to the change in board presidency.