Professors Evaluate Plans Of NAACP

This week's annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Boston saw civil rights leaders call for a redirection of the movement toward grassroots political activity.

Several Harvard professors and administrators participated in the five days of activities designed to marshal opposition to allies of President Reagan, especially "boll weevil" Democrats--who have supported the Administration while maintaining their party affiliation.

National association officials have targeted 105 congressional districts with a Black electorate of 15 percent or more for intensified political action this fall. In addition, 35 districts with Black constituencies of 30 percent or above will also be heavily canvassed.

Harvard participants at the conference contacted yesterday said the election strategy is not a departure from the civil disobedience which characterized the movement in the 1960s, but rather a utilization of the leverage gained in earlier battles.

Professor of Government Martin L. Kilson, who provided analysis of the conference for Boston's WNEV-TV as well as attending as a member, said the NAACP is "at a watershed" in its existence.

If it intends to continue as a viable part of the movement, Kilson said, the 73-year-old organization must become "part of the new Black politics and that is the politics of Black political representation."

"It is not a departure, but an extension of what happened in the past," Charles. V. Willie, professor of Education and Urban Studies, said. "We are beginning to marshal our resources nationally and direct them to the locality."

Willie explained the transition as "political sophistication," describing the targeting plan as "pragmatic" because the concentration of Blacks in some districts caused by racial discrimination becomes an advantage.

Harvard Race Relations Foundation Director S. Allen Counter, Assistant Professor in City and Regional Planning Frederick C. Doolittle and Senior Admissions Officer David L. Evans also attended the convention.

One of the convention's featured speakers, Boston Mayor Kevin H. White, told the delegates the city's poor race relations record is improving, adding that in NAACP convention could not have been held in the Hub five years ago.

Harvard participants differed in their reaction to the mayor's remarks. "Boston welcomes a national NAACP convention genuinely," Willie said, "but in the last year we have seen Blacks murdered Any murder that has the characteristics of a lynching does not evidence progress."

Kilson said White's speech emphasized an "aggregate picture" of progress rather than the experiences of individuals. "Black Boston is better than it has ever been," he said, citing the higher levels of Black participation in municipal employment, the school system, and the media.

"Regardless of how bad the situation is, there is potential for improvement." Counter said, adding that Bostonians are basically "people with good hearts."

Harvard participants also disagreed over the role of the academic community in the NAACP's plans. Academics "do not have much of a role," Kilson said. The NAACP "hasn't learned to use the potential friends it has in the academic establishment, he explained, adding that the group prefers an "ad-hoc" association.

Apprehensive that the organization's political thrust might overshadow educational goals, Willie said academics must stress "the linkage between analysis and action. "Saying that education and religion have been the greatest vehicles for the advancement of Blacks in America, he added that "higher education has to hang in there to remind racial minorities of the need not to turn away from it.