NAACP suspends VP after drug arrest

NAACP suspends VP after drug arrest

Organization president ‘ saddened’ by charges, slams media

news@theeveningtimes.com

Officials with the Crittenden County Chapter of the NAACP say the recent arrest of one of its officers on drug charges is tragic if the charges are true, but attempts to link their organization to criminal activity are unfair and unfounded.

“As a friend and member of our organization, we are saddened,” said Shabaka Afrika, president of the local NAACP chapter. “But we operate on the assumption that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Afrika spoke to the media during a press conference on Friday to correct misinformation, falsehoods, and lies about Watkins’s arrest and his ties to the group.

Afrika said the local chapter had no idea that Watkins had been arrested until after they saw accounts in the media, and that the Crittenden County NAACP absolutely did not bond him out of jail.

“I don’t know much about it other than what I have seen on social media, and in the papers, and on the news,” Afrika said. “We read in the paper that there were questions as to whether we bailed him out.

I didn’t bail him out. I read in the paper ‘amid concerns’ and ‘possibly.’ When things are worded that way it looks to me like somebody is trying to slant it to make you look like you are part of it.”

Watkins, a youth coach and former volunteer at Agape Love Church in West Memphis who is a second vice president of the local NAACP chapter, was arrested Jan. 19 in Memphis and charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance (marijuana and methamphetamine) with intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell. The drugs had a street value of more than $80,000.

The investigation started when a drug dog with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office detected the smell of narcotics coming from a package at a sorting facility.

Investigators found 952 grams of methamphetamine inside the package, which had been shipped from Los Angeles.

Law enforcement conducted a controlled delivery to the address at 3755 Miami in Memphis. A male later identified as Kyal White accepted the package and signed for it.

According to the arrest report, about 30 or 40 minutes later a white Cadillac driven by Watkins pulled into the driveway. Detectives witnessed a black male identified as Kesslin Richardson, 28, of Inglewood, Calif., leave the home with the package and place it inside the trunk of the vehicle.

Law enforcement officers pulled in behind the vehicle and ordered the two men to exit the vehicle. Investigators found 19 grams of marijuana and $1,088 in cash in Richardson’s pocket.

Both men told detectives that they had no idea what was in the package, and that they were just there to pick the package up for a friend who had received it by accident.

But according to a statement to investigators by Kyal White, whose home the package was shipped to, Watkins and Richardson asked him to receive the package in exchange for

marijuana.

Detectives found a backpack in the home containing 132 grams of marijuana which White said he was given as payment for using his address.

Watkins was arrested and released on $75,000 bond.

Richardson remains in jail on a one million bond.

Afrika said he has only known Watkins for about two years and that Watkins has been a member of the local NAACP chapter for about a year.

“We first met him at a city council meeting fighting to get a building to put a youth program, and we agreed with him” Afrika said. “What we know of Kyle Watkins is that he is a very nice man, a very friendly man. He said he is innocent. We will leave his innocence or guilt to the judge and prosecutor, as it should be.”

The local chapter will, however, conduct background checks on future members, Afrika said, as a precaution.

Afrika said that the local NAACP chapter has decided to suspend Watkins from the organization and his position as second vice president until his criminal case is resolved.

“I think that is understandable,” Afrika said. “I called him and told him and he said he understood. He seems to be okay. He is home with his wife. Other than that, that’s all we can comment on because we are not police officers.

We’re not part of the investigation. We don’t plan on doing an investigation.”

Afrika used the rest of the press conference to blast what he called “terroristic journalism” by The Evening Times, which he contends has had a vendetta against him personally and the local NAACP because of their stance against local “plantation politics.”

“I understand people want to get me,” Afrika said.

“Now, for those who don’t like us because we have taken a stand on plantation politics, they will spin it as though it were a black eye (against the local NAACP chapter).”

Afrika added that he did not appreciate comments by James Welspom, legal counsel for the state NAACP, who made it seem like the local chapter was involved in criminal activity.

“There is some insinuation that we are involved in the selling of drugs,” Afrika said. “That’s a stretch. Now that is slander and libel.

That story was too good to pass up to slander me.”

Afrika said Welspom should not have commented on Watkins arrest, and raised questions about Welspom’s own credentials and possible criminal background.

“James Welspom is not a lawyer,” Afrika said. “This man is a con artist and criminal going back years.

He shouldn’t even be in the NAACP. Nobody should have spoken on behalf of this local unit but me.”

The local NAACP chapter was only recently re-chartered in December by the state NAACP organization after years of operating as an unsanctioned body.

Afrika has a long history of making racially charged statements against local African-American and white politicians who do not support his agenda.

Rubye Johnson, vice president of the local chapter, lamented that the news coverage has focused more on Watkins being a member of the local NAACP in an attempt to paint the organization in an unfavorable light.

“That’s what irritates me,” Johnson said. “And every call I’ve gotten from people all over this city is that ‘Miss Rubye, we don’t like that.’ They are trying to scandalize the NAACP.”

Turrell Mayor Dorothy Cooper, who is a member of the local NAACP chapter, defended the people who make up the local organization.

“I am always boasting and bragging about the NAACP here,” Cooper said. “To be associated falsely is not a good thing in the community because people are ready to say negative things about you already. I am still proud to be a member. I commend them. I am proud to be associated with them.”

Hubert Bass, a Justice of the Peace on the Crittenden County Quorum Court and ambassador for the local NAACP chapter, said they understand the severity of the charges against Watkins, but felt the organization had to respond.

“We hope again that it’s not true and that he is innocent,” Bass said. “But that will play out in the courts.”

By Mark Randall