WEST MEMPHIS -- A Crittenden County circuit judge has ordered the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to pay its Crittenden County chapter $120,000 after a five-year court battle over its elections.
Circuit Judge Victor L. Hill ordered the NAACP to pay $100,000 in damages and $20,000 in attorney fees by Oct. 2. If the association does not meet the deadline, Hill said he would order the organization to pay $10,000 for each month it fails to pay, the order read.
A spokesman at the national NAACP in Baltimore said no one was available to comment on the ruling.
Arkansas NAACP President Dale Charles did not return telephone messages left at his office Monday.
Crittenden County NAACP President Shabaka Afrika said the chapter filed legal action in November 2010 after Charles "tried to run" the chapter's election of officers.
Afrika said Charles' friend, Willie Catha-Jones, was seeking re-election as the local president.
Afrika was elected president, but the national NAACP suspended the election and placed its former officers back in office.
"[Charles] said he came to observe the elections," Afrika said. "But there's quite a big difference between observing and running the process."
In February, Hill ruled that the election was valid, and Afrika was declared the president.
Afrika said the state organization revoked the Crittenden County chapter's membership in November 2013. But last month, state NAACP officials said the revocation was a computer "glitch," and the chapter's membership status was restored.
Afrika said he does not know whether the state organization plans to appeal, but he said he would continue to fight in court if it did.
State Desk on 09/17/2015