Members of NAACP executive committee say Tonza Thomas doesn’t speak for them

The Columbus NAACP president’s request for the removal of confederate symbols throughout the Columbus area isn’t sitting well with some executive members of the local branch.

Barbara Pierce, the local NAACP’s second vice president, said she and other members of the executive committee were caught off guard when Thomas went public with her request to Mayor Teresa Tomlinson.

“What it is is an internal problem,” said Pierce in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “The internal problem is that we have members of the executive committee —which has not taken a stand one way or the other — and what we are tired of is that Tonza keeps calling the media and keeps speaking for us as a whole, and it’s really her personal opinion. ... She’s running for state president and now she’s just going rogue.”

Pierce said it has been an ongoing problem in the organization under Thomas’ leadership, and some members recently filed paperwork with the national NAACP requesting her removal as president. She said 32 members of the organization signed a petition that accompanied the document.

“When she made the announcement in the news that she was running for state president, we didn’t even know,” Pierce said. “We’ve been getting the news when everybody else is getting the news. That’s not good because it’s the executive board that runs the organization, not the president.”

Pierce said Thomas has been bullying people in the organization and many have left because they’re afraid to confront her.

“I have gotten to the point now where I don’t care if they try to get rid of me because I think it just needs to get out,” she said. “This branch is folding and it’s folding fast, and if we don’t say something about it, we won’t have a local NAACP.”

Erma Everett, the branch’s treasurer, agreed with Pierce’s assessment of Thomas’ leadership. She said she was among those who signed the petition to have her removed.

“I can certainly tell you this: she made the statement on her own because she has not consulted with the executive committee,” she said of Thomas’ request for the removal of Confederate symbols. “I haven’t been called. I knew nothing about it, and I know several other members of the executive committee knew nothing about it. So I can certainly say that, in and of itself, it was a call on her own. It’s certainly not the views of the local branch.”

Pierce and Everett said the organization closed the branch bank account and opened another one to keep Thomas from spending money.

“We are broke,” said Pierce. “Our Freedom Fund Banquet is supposed to take us the whole year and beyond, but she has spent all of our money. ... She took a lot of the money running for state office, buying stamps and buying paper and buying ink cartridges and things like that.”

Thomas, who currently serves as the Georgia NAACP’s state secretary, announced in July that she’s running for state president. Elections will be held Oct. 7 at a state convention in Augusta, Ga. She said she’s running to reinvigorate youth, whom she believes are the “lifeblood” of the organization.

On Thursday, Thomas told the Ledger-Enquirer she was unaware of efforts to remove her as president of the local branch, and she defended her recent actions. She said her letter to the mayor was based on a directive from the Georgia Conference of the NAACP, which issued the following news release Wednesday:

“The Traitors of the Confederate States of America were soundly defeated over 150 years ago and Today. We as Diverse Georgians must send a message once and for all, that Georgia is the State too Busy to Hate. We the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP are calling on all elected officials to remove ALL SYMBOLS OF THE CONFEDERACY FROM ALL GEORGIA PUBLIC PROPERTY. We especially call on Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia General Assembly to act immediately on this issue. Further, we call on ALL MAYORS within this Great State including Mayor Kasim Reed to remove all symbols of the Confederacy from City Government Property.”

Thomas said the NAACP has bylaws that say if the president is absent or is incapacitated then the chain of command goes into effect to the first vice president, and then the second vice president and then the third vice president.

“Ms. Pierce is not privy to the communications that have been going on at the state and national level, simply because that information is put out to the branch president and the branch secretary,” she said. “... Per constitution and bylaws, in between meetings, the president has the executive authority to speak on behalf of the branch. When the executive meeting comes up in the month of September, the executive committee could either respond or not respond.”

Everett said the bylaws allow Thomas to make executive decisions in between meetings, but they must be ratified by the executive committee.

“... And before she makes a statement like that to the press, she needs to consult with us,” she said, “because what will happen is, even if she made some sort of decision and it was not correct and she brought it back to the executive body, she would have to recant that, according to the constitution and bylaws.”

When asked if the executive committee would ask Thomas to recant her statements to the mayor, Everett said: “Absolutely, we knew nothing about it. Tonza has been doing a lot of things outside of the constitution and bylaws practically her whole term. Everything she does is outside and out of the executive committee.”

Concerning branch finances, Thomas said she plans to report Pierce’s statements about her spending to national officials because it’s a “blatant lie.” She said the bank account was closed by someone who had no authority to do so, but the organization has another account that she continues to use.

“That information went up to national in July,” she said. “Because nobody can close the branch bank account without the authority of the executive committee.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Members of NAACP executive committee say Tonza Thomas doesn’t speak for them."