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What's behind the biggest upheaval ever in black leadership?

Article Excerpt
WE are witnessing an unprecedented changing of the guard in Black American leadership, and many followers are wondering what's going on, and where do we go from here. Within the last two years, five of Black America's top civil rights and advocacy organizations--the NAACP, the National Urban League, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)--have named new executives or are looking for a new leader.

Some historians and other political observers note that this is perhaps the biggest upheaval in Black leadership structures ever. And while most of the Black leaders interviewed for this story agree that the leadership helm changes are dramatic, there is no need for alarm.

It was perhaps the November 2004 departure of Kweisi Mfume from the NAACP that really put the spotlight on the number of changes at the top. His decision to step down also has pressed the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization into a national search for a president. NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond says the organization is conducting a search and hopes to have someone on board when the organization's convention begins in July in Milwaukee.

Bond notes...

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