The new president of the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area NAACP Branch of the NAACP, focused mainly on the elimination of racial discrimination, is already connected with local leaders.
Columbus resident and North Vernon Pastor Johnnie Edwards, 50, replaces Olisa Humes, now a Democratic candidate for Bartholomew County Council at-large. Edwards automatically moves into the leadership role by being the local NAACP’s first vice president under Humes.
Edwards also recently became a member of the local African American Pastors Alliance that pushes for fair treatment for Blacks in everything from schools to media to law enforcement.
Edwards already has met with Jim Roberts, superintendent of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Humes recently had been meeting regularly with local school officials about issues such as protecting minority students from racism.
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And, like most of the previous local NAACP leaders, Edwards said the organization, launched nationally in 1909 and locally in 1968, remains vital for promoting racial equality.
“The NAACP has always been an important factor in this nation,” Edwards said, highlighting everything from educational equality to worker equality.
He said one of his first goals is to boost membership from about 65 people, back up to the approximate 200-member mark from about 15 years ago. He said that probably will include attending community events with membership forms in hand or encouraging people to become members by filling out information online at naacp.org and filling in the local chapter number of 3071.
Nationally, the NAACP most recently has focused efforts on police reform and combating racial hate.
The local NAACP, whose meetings and membership is open to all, has been visible and vocal especially in the past 20-plus years in Columbus.
It became involved when a noose was discovered near an area where two Black employees worked at a local factory in 2007, in the wake of vandalism at a predominantly Black church, and when a local student performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” was scheduled in 2003. The NAACP’s outcry sparked much community debate until that production was canceled because of the use of a racial slur in the script.
NAACP members also joined a push several years ago to make the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday a day out of school for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Moreover, in the mid-1990s, the NAACP’s action and complaints caused city leaders to examine how police were treating Black residents.
In recent years, some of the organization’s greatest visibility has come at its annual fall Freedom Fund Scholarship Banquet, during which it presents college scholarships of $200 to $500 to area students. That event’s attendance, which dipped to about 50 people about a decade ago, in recent years has increased to 150 up to 300 people.
Most recently, the local chapter worked alongside the local pastors alliance and the Justice Resource Center of Columbus for a racial justice rally that attracted a record, estimated crowd of 700 to 1,000 people at Columbus City Hall.
“I’m happy and honored to be in this role while serving the community,” Edwards said.
For three years, Edwards has led the small-but-multicultural Second United Methodist Church of North Vernon. He also works as IT manager for Lindal North America Inc.
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Age: 50
Lives: Columbus
Family: Wife Christy; six children ranging in age from 7 to 26.
Education: An information technology degree from then-Indiana Business College; a theology degree from Cypress University in Texas; and he graduated cum laude with an associate’s degree in logistics supply chain management from Ivy Tech Columbus.
Work: IT manager at Lindal North America Inc. in Columbus and pastor of Second United Methodist Church of North Vernon.
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