Even in retirement, a civil rights leader plans to stay suited up for the fight
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Version 0 of 1. After 20 years as president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Wade Henderson is stepping down. But why now? With civil rights legislation being rolled back by the courts, Congress and state legislators — and black people’s freedom being violated by police in the streets — the need for experienced leadership seems particularly acute. “I’m not retiring from the civil rights movement, just stepping aside from the present position,” said Henderson, 67. “I need time for personal reflection and for thinking how I will rejoin the efforts that have been a lifetime calling.” No one could begrudge him for taking a well-earned break. Nevertheless, there is no substitute for wisdom and experience, and his certainly will be missed. Henderson grew up in Washington and attended what was then McKinley Technical High School. In 1963, at age 15, he disobeyed his parents and rode his bicycle to the Mall for the March on Washington. (The event had been organized by founders of the conference that Henderson would come to lead.) [March on Washington 50 years later] “My parents thought there was going to be trouble at the march and didn’t want me to get caught up in it,” Henderson recalled. “But I went anyway and was struck by the experience. You have to remember that the District was a racially segregated city with horrific social customs. It wasn’t like the Deep South where people were being lynched, but I did live with people who had fled the South, who had been scarred by the experience and who brought their traumas and insights with them. Those people were a great inspiration to me.” Henderson’s political activism continued after he enrolled at Howard University, which he attended from 1966 to 1970, and later at Rutgers School of Law. He went on to become an associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union and director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau. The Leadership Conference is a civil rights coalition of more than 200 national organizations. It was founded in 1950 by A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins of the NAACP; and Arnold Aronson, leader of the former National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council. The primary mission of the conference is to lobby Congress on civil rights legislation. (Formerly known as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the name was changed in 2010 to include human rights.) Now, as Henderson prepares to depart, one of the organization’s most important victories — the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — is under assault. Two years after the Supreme Court gutted key provisions of the law, there has been a flurry of attempts by various state legislatures to limit access to the ballot box. Those efforts include the use of restrictive voter ID cards and cutting back the number of polling places, often in poor, predominately black areas. [Supreme Court stops use of key part of Voting Rights Act] Of course, no civil rights issue is garnering as much attention as the controversial killings of unarmed black men by white police officers. And the efforts by a new generation of activists have won his respect and admiration. “I want to give Black Lives Matter credit, because even though they reject the notion of individual leaders, their energy, persistence and willingness to speak out has had an impact on the public discourse about police brutality,” Henderson said. He also praised Color of Change, another social justice advocacy group that uses social media to organize and educate. Ultimately, though, Henderson believes that justice will be found in the law — and the proper enforcement of it. But to get the appropriate laws, you need appropriate legislators. And that requires voting. So far, as Henderson sees it, the new young activists have not paid much attention to that part of the civil rights struggle. “There is a sense that the political system has not fulfilled their expectations, that they don’t see the election of some of our candidates as having influenced outcomes in the way they had hoped,” Henderson said. “So they have not yet begun to approach electoral politics as a solution, although it is certainly among the most important in terms of addressing the broader problems.” Count on Henderson’s successor to carry that message. Meanwhile, he’ll just look for other ways to heed that “lifetime calling.” “Being in the civil rights struggle is not an experience to be worn like a suit that you take off at the end of the day,” Henderson said. “I intend to stay suited up.” To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. |