When Bishop Collete Matthews- Carter became President of the NAACP there was a sense of an organization moving forward with new leadership. There was an effort to increase the organizations visibility. A glance at the organization’s You Tube page, in addition to posts on their website, indicate a noticeable uptick in activity. Therefore, it came as a shock when it was learned that NAACP President Bishop Collete Matthews- Carter resigned effective May 30th, 2022. It is now October, and according to the NAACP elections should be held this upcoming November 2022.
In Matthews-Carter’s Inaugural NAACP Annual Address to the Community Feb 21, 2021 She mapped out the future of the organization, “The weight will be in the work and in our actions. The mission of the NAACP is clear. And it is again, to secure the educational, the economic, the social and the political equality of all persons. And to eliminate race-based discrimination” she continues, “It is important that the community recognizes that we are here, and we are fighting for you.”
Matthews-Carter previously worked in leadership/management with the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse and currently serves as Director, Center for Dialogue for InterFaith Works of Central New York. In June, Matthews-Carter was featured on LocalSYR.com discussing Interfaith’s annual “United We End Racism” duck race!
Record of Achievement
There were a series of successful events accomplished during Matthews-Carter’s term. Of course, these successes were the result of hard work of the organization and its committee chairs; Economic Development, Chair Terry Woodfork, Education Chair; Gwen Muok, Frredom Fund Chair; Linda Brown-Robinson; Civic Engagement Chair, Van Robinson; Health Chair, Brittany Taylor; Legal Redress Chair, Barry Gewanter.
Syracuse NAACP Community Education Forum Thursday, January 27, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. via Zoom; We’ll be passing out Turkeys and Gift Cards. Join us. November 19, 2021; The Syracuse NAACP Celebrates Women’s History Month March 1, 2021; 42nd Annual Freedom Fund Dinner Event Featuring Keynote Speaker: Al Roker! June 21, 2021; NAACP President’s Response to Video of Police Interaction With 8 Year-Old Child April 21, 2022; The 43rd Annual Syracuse Onondaga Freedom Fund Dinner May 26, 2022. Matthews-Carter resigned on May 30th, 2022.
I reached out to several members in leadership that referred to the resignation as “an internal matter”. This was the organizations official response:
NAACP’s Response
“Thank you for reaching out to ask questions about the Syracuse Onondaga NAACP. I want to first of all address your question about NAACP Activity during the months of July & August.
Traditionally, during July & August we do not have general membership meetings. Our branch has been actively participating in the following events during the summer at which we solicited voter registration applications, membership and answered general questions about voting and our organization. We also offered the opportunity for other organizations to join us to promote their services.
Juneteenth
Jazz in the City (We participated at each site)
Juneteenth
Northeast Jazz Festival
NYS State Fair (13 days)
This doesn’t include the various community meetings our members participated as a representative of our organization. In addition, we continue to field Legal Redress issues for residents in our community.
So, as you can see. We were quite busy. A letter went out to our membership on 9/12/22 notifying them of our Branch Elections this month. To RSVP for our meetings membership can visit our website at SyracuseNaacp.com or follow this link:
https://www.syracusenaacp.com/2022/09/05/join-us-for-our-syracuse-naacp-general-membership-election-meeting-in-sept-at-600-p-m/
Editor’s note: the resignation is separate from the scheduled NAACP organization leadership election.
