NAACP Detroit Deputy Director

Who: Donnell White
Age: 31
What: NAACP Detroit Deputy Director

After a week-long hiatus, BIY is back with a great story about the NAACP Detroit Deputy Director. This story is from The Detroit News.
Be sure to check out the blog as well, where we just installed a great google gadget pulling stories about people making a difference.


Monday, June 2, 2008
Desire to make a difference runs in the family
Detroit NAACP deputy director represents next generation of leaders.
Candice Williams / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- During the mid-1980s, young Donnell White watched as the city's elite arrived for meetings at his great-grandparents' home in the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood.

Shelton Tappes, a former United Auto Workers executive board member, and his wife, Louise, also active in the community, opened their home to the likes of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, civil rights activist Rosa Parks and former Mayor Coleman A. Young.

Even with a family heavily involved in community activism, it wasn't always apparent to White, who today is deputy executive director of the Detroit NAACP, that he would follow the same path. But, at 31, he's quickly building a reputation as an emerging leader in Metro Detroit.

"I used to want to be a pediatrician, on the SWAT team, and my real passion was to work for an accounting firm," said White, who had a change of heart when he began volunteering at the NAACP. "I found everything I wanted to accomplish careerwise I could do here. The work we do really makes a difference."

Since becoming deputy director last year -- the youngest in branch history to hold the position -- White has led event panels and helped organize the Detroit NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, which draws 10,000 people to Cobo Center each year.

Friends, co-workers and community leaders describe him as informed, kindhearted and a voice to be heard.

"He is a perfect representation of the next generation of leaders," said Tonette Bryant-Carter, senior development officer for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. "He's very involved in the community."
Making his own job

White's career path began as a volunteer in 2001 at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Detroit branch, the country's largest.

"He was pretty impressive because he created a job for himself," said Heaster Wheeler, branch executive director. "I was wondering why he kept showing up. I said, 'Since you're sitting there, you may as well answer the phone.' And all of a sudden, we learned that he had very good skills with people."

White worked as an office assistant for a couple of years. Then he became director of youth and education programs and coordinated a youth competition, ACT-SO, which stands for the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics.

He was promoted to deputy executive director shortly after working on a campaign against Proposal 2, a state constitutional amendment that banned affirmative action in Michigan's university admissions and in government hiring. The position had been vacant for a couple of years.

In this role, White oversees the branch's day-to-day operations, meets with community members and is branch spokesman.

"If I decided to move on, I would feel very comfortable that a power succession would be in place," Wheeler said, adding that White brings balance to the organization.

The 21-year age difference between them is an asset, she said.

"We view our lives and community through different eyes," Wheeler said. "His way of viewing the world helps bridge what would have been a generational divide."
Encouraging others' activity

Recently, White visited Westside Academy, where he talked to a group of high school students at about racial profiling, prison population growth and expansion and the importance of being active in the community.

"I told them, 'If you don't join the NAACP, join your block club. If you don't join your block club, join one of the auxiliaries at church,'" he said. "And if it isn't one of those, just try something that you're fed up dealing with and make a commitment that you're going to make a difference about that."

Albert Jones, a member of the parent group at Westside, said it's inspiring for the young people to see White in a high position at the NAACP. Jones has known him for about 10 years.

They attend Fellowship Chapel in Detroit, where White is a worship leader.

"We have some boys that haven't been so good," Jones said. "They're beginning to see some men they want to look to as role models. (White) is one of those persons."

Born during a family trip to Chicago, White lived briefly in Detroit, grew up in Taylor and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School before earning a finance degree from Michigan State University in 2001.

Last year, White led a group of about 100 Metro Detroiters to Jena, La., to protest the treatment of six black high school students accused of beating a white classmate. Months before, in August 2006, nooses were hung from a tree at the school. In January, when the master of ceremonies couldn't make it to a Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at the Charles H. Wright Museum, officials turned to White to bail them out.

"He stepped right in and didn't miss a beat," Bryant-Carter said. "He stayed on task. He asked the right questions of the panelists. He was there as ... a guest, but then he put on another hat and did his thing."

When asked if people are dismissive because of his age, White notes that King became involved in the civil rights movement in his 20s.

As for the future, White would consider running for a public office. City clerk, county clerk or secretary of state would be a good fit for him, he said.

"I come from a family that wanted to make a difference," he said. "That makes the work I do worthwhile."

You can reach Candice Williams at (517) 552-5504 or cwilliams@detnews.com.