Illinois NAACP leader is asked to step down after video shows her likening migrants to ‘savages’ and accusing them of rape

CHICAGO — In a videotaped criticism of migrant policy, the president of the Illinois National Association for the Advancement of Colored People compared migrants to “savages” and accused them of rape — comments that have prompted a call for her to resign.

Illinois State Conference NAACP President Teresa Haley made the comments in a conference call this fall with branch presidents from around the state, according to Patrick Watson, former president of the DuPage County Branch NAACP. Watson, who said he resigned in protest of Haley, recorded the video, which he shared Tuesday.

In the video, Haley objected to migrants having been given lodging and clothing while Black and homeless people have been ignored.

“But Black people have been on the streets forever and ever, and nobody cares, because they say that we’re drug addicts; we’ve got mental health issues,” she said. “But these immigrants who come over here, they’ve been raping people, they’ve been breaking into homes, they’re like savages as well. They don’t speak the language and they look at us like we’re crazy.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the remarks “reprehensible.”

“I would hope that she would apologize for the remarks,” he said. “I also think that people should recognize that immigrants in this country are all around us. ... Virtually all of us came here from somewhere else. So remarks like that are commentary on our entire society. Extraordinarily inappropriate.”

Reached by WLS-Ch. 7 while on vacation in Dubai, Haley denied the statements, but when confronted about them being on video suggested it was fake, saying “With AI, anything is possible.”

Watson said he didn’t immediately respond to Haley, but got fed up after Haley made recent comments referring to LGBTQ pronouns as “they, them, it,” which Watson said is insulting to people he knows.

“This kind of rhetoric drives that kind of hate,” Watson told the Tribune.

Other NAACP members made comments about migrants getting resources that Blacks did not, but, he said, “She was the only one that used this derogatory, hateful language.”

“I’m seeing a lot of division, and they’re only fanning the flames,” Watson said. “This is not the sentiment of the Black community as a whole, it’s a vocal minority. Public sentiment is very much in favor of helping migrants in DuPage. You can be for raising up your people without denigrating other people.”

Watson said he reached out to the national organization to raise concerns about the comments. The national organization, founded as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, with a stated goal of support “for all marginalized people,” did not immediately respond to the Tribune’s requests for comment.

Reached by phone, Carla Jackson-Campbell, secretary of the state NAACP, disputed when Watson said he recorded the call.

“We are still evaluating all of the information and awaiting more details,” she said. “Our mission is and always will be to achieve equity and political rights and social inclusion by advancing the needs of Black people. President Haley does embrace the mission of our beloved NAACP.”

Haley, whom Watson said is running for the NAACP national board, is also president of the NAACP Springfield branch, and won an NAACP Image Award in 2021 as Activist of the Year. In the video, she put her comments in the context of slavery.

“We were the only people in America who were brought over here against our wills and we’re slaves, sold into slavery,” she said. “But unlike everybody else who comes over here, we’re so kind, we’re so friendly, you need some clothes, you need a place to stay, we’re gonna make it happen.”

Watson said he also was “appalled” at Haley’s use of the N-word in the video.

“So brother, I feel your pain,” Haley said. “I’m trying not to be a (N-word), but you know I’m pro-Black.”

DuPage County board member Michael Childress, who immediately succeeded Watson as DuPage branch president, said Haley suspended Watson after an unspecified issue earlier this year, and he resigned after a no-confidence vote from local branch leaders.

Childress said Haley’s comments don’t reflect the NAACP’s views, but said he would comment further after a previously scheduled meeting of the local branch Tuesday night.

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