Re-elected Stark NAACP president envisions passing torch in 2 years
Stark County NAACP President Hector McDaniel was reelected last week to a second, two-year term to head the civil rights organization.
He defeated challenger Ida Ross-Freeman. He got 44 votes, and she garnered 30 votes.
McDaniel, 65, said he more than likely would seek to hand off leadership to a new generation after this term.
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"We’ve got a young generation of young African American leaders who are poised to move not just the NAACP but the work that it does forward in our community," said McDaniel. "My role is to make sure that I am giving that generation an opportunity to lead but I'm making sure they have the tools, the resources and relationships to do that.”
Ross-Freeman, a former Canton city school board member, said Saturday she texted McDaniel after learning of the results.
"There’s no animosity (by me) against Hector. He’s a good guy," she said. “I congratulated him and said 'let’s get to work.'"
Ross-Freeman expressed disappointment that only 74 of a couple hundred Stark NAACP members cast ballots in the election.
“Voting is our way of saying how we feel and (many of us) just don’t vote. I just don’t understand that," she said, adding that she was disappointed “not because Hector won, not because I lost. I'm just disappointed with (many members of) the Stark NAACP not paying attention to what's going on in the unit. They want change but they're not willing to work.”
Background
In 2020, McDaniel succeeded Stark County NAACP President Deb Shamlin, who had died that year.
McDaniel, who lives in Plain Township, retired in 2012 as a rehabilitation counselor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Canton. A native of the Cleveland area whose wife of 41 years, Krisceda McDaniel, is from Massillon, McDaniel has four sons, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
He said during his first term, the Stark NAACP revived its AfroAcademic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) program for middle school and high school students. And the chapter brought back an organization that matches mentors to students.
He said pursuing reform of local police departments and investigating how the Stark County Department of Job & Family Services cares for children in its custody is on the chapter's agenda. McDaniel said a Stark NAACP committee, which has looked at practices in Camden, New Jersey, may release proposals in January on how to improve the Canton Police Department after James Williams was shot dead by a police officer on New Year's Day.
Election process
The vote for Stark NAACP officers took place on Tuesday with the NAACP nationwide headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland conducting the all-electronic election, said McDaniel.
He said links to online forms were sent by text messages and emails to Stark County NAACP members who cast their votes on the forms.
Monty Pender beat Moniquec Conner in the contest for the Stark County NAACP's first vice president, and Style Marshall had no opposition to be elected the third vice president. The first vice president Jennifer Ross and third vice president Latrice Snodgrass chose not to seek reelection.
No one ran for second vice president. Viola Fisher was reelected secretary, besting Edythe Stinson. Gaylon Wesley Brooks and her husband Phillip Brooks were unopposed in being elected to two seats as at-large executive committee members. The seats had been vacant for about two years.
McDaniel said the Stark County NAACP has about 160 to a couple hundred dues-paying members. He expressed concern that only 74 members cast their ballots in the chapter president's election.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark NAACP President Hector McDaniel reelected
