Reviving NAACP Middletown Chapter in Motion
An Orange County group, energized by political turmoil, aims to re-launch a chapter to cover much of Orange County in the next few months.
Evidence that assorted community sectors’ voices go unheard prompted a group of Orange County residents to launch a campaign to revive the inactive Middletown chapter of the NAACP. The expansion would include most of the county south and southwest of Newburgh, which has an active chapter.
“Issues have to be dealt with, and it’s hard for the Newburgh chapter to have eyes and ears everywhere,” said Manny Tirado, acting treasurer of the group, as they gather members.
The chapter relaunch has been discussed for several months, and social and political shifts have energized the effort, said Tirado, a retired transportation planner.
The revived chapter would include Middletown, Goshen, Chester, Monroe, Warwick, Woodbury, Minisink, Crawford, Mt. Hope, Otisville and Port Jervis. This area has had a substantial increase in people of color, according to the latest census.
The acronym NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. However, said Donna Douglas, “The NAACP always involved others. We’re just making that effort a little stronger.”
Douglas, retired from mental health and substance abuse counseling in New York City, along with being an organizer with 1199 Service Employees International Union, is doing outreach for the initiative, with municipal officials as well as clergy, including Warwick town and village officials.
“When I first moved here, I made it my business to meet the mayor, supervisor and village board trustees,” she said.
Officers will be elected when the chapter is re-established, for which 50 paid memberships are required, Tirado said.
Gail Jeter, the acting president of the chapter in progress, has noticed several groups that could benefit from NAACP advocacy. She encounters one group when she visits her husband in Valley View Nursing Home—the many immigrant staff members who came from Africa, the Caribbean and the Philippines.
“They don’t fight for their rights,” said Jeter. “In other institutions workers got hazard pay during the pandemic and would have picketed if they didn’t. But the head of the CSEA works at the Department of Social Services. More staff work in nursing homes than social services, but they don’t vote.”
Meanwhile, Jeter has attended county legislature meetings.
“They’re always empty. They’re scheduled at 3:30 when people are at work or picking up kids from school,” she said.
Also, as a Crawford resident, she asked to be on the Town of Crawford police reform committee, which resulted from New York State Executive Order 203. She noted little preliminary discussion about what reforms were needed.
Rather, she said, “The police chief presented what would be done.”
Elsewhere, at a Black Lives Matter demonstration, she encountered public school students troubled by racism in school.
“The problem is a lack of interaction between groups and a lack of diversity in local government,” Jeter said. “I’m from the city, a retired teacher. We picketed. We want more influence to advocate for the underserved, including the LGBTQ.”
Strong added Asians and Jews to those needing advocacy, and Tirado noted threats to voting rights, like New York Citizens Audit, challenging election results without evidence.
In the NAACP recruitment effort, 112 people have expressed interest, and so far 16 have joined and paid dues, Tirado said. Dues range from $10, for youth, to $30 for adults and $5000 for corporate memberships annually. Jeter expects to see the chapter established by the end of the year.
Anyone interested in joining the effort or wanting more information about it can email the organizing committee at ocnaacpmiddletown@gmail.com. To be successful, the group must have 50 people who paid the $30 NAACP annual fee. You can join the forming chapter by mailing or hand delivering a check made out to the NAACP, noting Middletown Chapter ID#2156 in the memo line, to Manny Tirado at 76 Murray Ave., Greenwood Lake, NY 10925. Be sure to include your email address. You will receive an emailed receipt.
Once the group has achieved 50 members, it will apply to the state NAACP for recognition of the revived chapter and a public organizing meeting will be held to choose the renewed chapter's leadership and set forward a plan of action, in accordance with the rules and goals of the NAACP.
The NAACP is nonpartisan and open to anyone who subscribes to the organization’s goals. NAACP goals are to help empower under-represented people, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
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