Teresa Haley's enthusiasm and energy were evident when she called on the federal government June 10 to include an archeological site near HSHS St. John's Hospital in the National Park System in commemoration of the Springfield Race Riot of 1908.
"The time is now to take a stand," the Springfield native told the racially and religiously diverse crowd of more than 400 gathered for a community meeting at Union Baptist Church to give testimony to officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior and White House Council on Environmental Quality.
"The time is now to do what you can," she continued. "The time is now to stand up and fight. The time is now to do what's right."
Haley, 59, was suspended in December as president of the NAACP Illinois State Conference for controversial comments she made on a recorded video call about migrants. Most of the work she did the past 10 years to publicize the race riot's importance in the formation of the NAACP was as an NAACP activist, both at the state level and as former president of the civil rights group's Springfield branch.
But on June 10, the retired state worker spoke as a private citizen and founder of a nonprofit, Visions 1908, that owns the building at 801 S. 11th St. where the Springfield branch continues to be based and where the branch operates an alternative school for District 186 students.
"This is truly what diversity looks like," Haley said, telling federal officials that there's broad agreement in the community about the need for a National Park Service site with the race riot as its focus.
Haley told Illinois Times she hopes to return to the NAACP Springfield branch as its president after her one-year suspension by national NAACP leaders is up and when an election for the president's next two-year stint is conducted later this year.
"There's still a lot of work to be done," she said.
It's uncertain, however, based on comments from the branch's current president, whether she will have the opportunity to return to leadership this year.
If returning to the branch presidency isn't possible in 2024, Haley said she will run to be president again of the NAACP Illinois Conference for a two-year term that begins in fall 2025.
Haley said she still feels bitter about how the nation's oldest civil rights organization treated her, adding that the suspension disqualified her from what she believes would have been a successful bid for a regional seat on the national NAACP's board of directors.
The spot went to her opponent from Indiana, said Haley, who received the "activist of the year" award as part of the 2020 NAACP Image Awards.
"I plan on coming back and doing the great work that I've been doing in the organization for over 30 years of my life," Haley said.
"They treated me unfairly, but for me, it's not necessarily about the organization, it's about my community," she said. "It's about really standing up and being that voice for my community because I see locally, since I've been suspended, we're hurting." Haley said she believes the local and state NAACP organizations have lost "a strong activist voice" now that she is no longer in those roles.
Haley interpreted her Dec. 13 as state NAACP president as also suspending her status as branch president. Both jobs are unpaid.
The national NAACP said in a Dec. 15 statement that the suspension showed the organization "stands firm in our commitment to advancing racial justice and cultivating a society where human dignity is respected."
Haley was recorded on video in October, during a monthly Zoom call with NAACP leaders throughout Illinois, in which she called immigrants "savages" and said they are "raping our people" and attracting more public sympathy and attention than Black people with similar needs.
Haley told Illinois Times she regretted using the term "savages" in reference to the thousands of immigrants who have been flown and bused by Texas officials to Chicago's west and south side neighborhoods.
But she said her comments were misinterpreted and taken out of context when she was summarizing and referring to the same word used by at least two other Illinois branch presidents during the meeting.
Haley said she has continued to support the Springfield NAACP branch "physically, mentally and financially." The $25,000 stipend that Visions 1908 receives from District 186 for hosting the alternative school in her building doesn't cover all the costs, she said. The school's teachers are district employees and paid by the district separately from the stipend.
Haley said she learned the length of her suspension when viewing a video recording of the national NAACP's biennial meeting in February. Earlier that month, she participated in a Zoom hearing with NAACP officials to contest her suspension. She said the hearing was "a joke."
The suspension of about 10 other branch presidents was announced during the national NAACP meeting, and their suspensions were for six years, she said.
Haley said national NAACP leaders enacted a change in the group's constitution and bylaws at the meeting to prohibit anyone from being a branch president and state conference president at the same time. The move appeared to be in response to Haley's situation, she said.
Officials from the Baltimore-based national NAACP haven't returned emails and phone calls from Illinois Times seeking comment.
Austin Randolph, former first vice president of the Springfield branch, became president upon Haley's suspension. He said it's his understanding Haley's suspension lasts through the end of 2024, which would preclude Haley from running for president when the branch holds an internal election before the end of the year.
Haley said she believes her one-year suspension will end Dec. 13, 2024, so there's a possibility she could run again for president this year if the branch holds an election between that date and the end of the year. It's up to national leaders when it comes to the precise day the suspension ends, she said.
Haley said she wanted to get on the national board to further publicize the need for a national monument in Springfield commemorating the race riot in the hometown of the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, who was known as the Great Emancipator.
The proposed commemoration site is near Madison and 10th streets and where foundations of Black-owned homes burned during the riot have been excavated and preserved.
Haley and other speakers called upon President Joe Biden to use his executive powers under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to grant the site NPS status and pave the way for fundraising and other efforts to develop the site.
Congress also could vote to grant the status, but Biden's decision is viewed as the easier route. It's unknown when Biden might decide, but the Democrat is trying to energize Black voters as part of his bid for reelection in November.
