Dallas NAACP President Resigns

D A L L A S, Aug. 10 -- An NAACP leader indefinitely suspended for anti-Semiticcomments about Al Gore’s running mate has resigned to form a newcivil rights coalition and refuses to apologize for his remarks onSen. Joseph Lieberman, the first Jew named to a major nationalparty ticket.

But Lee Alcorn, who resigned Wednesday afternoon from the NAACPafter two decades of service, drew nationwide rebuke. NAACPnational President Kweisi Mfume had suspended Alcorn that morning,saying he found his comments on a Gospel talk show about Liebermanto be “anti-Semitic and anti-NAACP.”

Alcorn, the Dallas NAACP branch president, said Monday thatGore’s selection of Lieberman—an Orthodox Jew—as a running matewas “suspicious.”

Remarks Ripped

But Julian Bond, chairman of the national NAACP board ofdirectors, called Alcorn’s remarks “hateful, repulsive andignorant.”

Other civil rights leaders and religious groups also criticizedAlcorn’s attack on Lieberman and supported the senator’s selectionby the Democratic presidential candidate, revealed Monday.

“I support Lieberman being on that ticket strongly,” said theRev. Jesse Jackson, speaking at the White House shortly afterreceiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “When we live in ourfaith, we live under the law. He is a firewall of exemplarybehavior.”

Jackson, asked whether Alcorn’s remarks indicate a comingbacklash of anti-Semitism, said, “We’re going to have moreexpressions of darkness, but we’re also going to have moreexpressions of light. The forces of light will dispel those forcesof darkness. We will prevail.”

Controversial Comments

Alcorn, speaking on Fort Worth, Texas radio station KHVN’s talkShow, said Monday: “If we get a Jew person, then what I’mwondering is, I mean, what is this movement for, you know? Does ithave anything to do with the failed peace talks?”