A change in leadership but no change in focus is the 2025 plan for the Arlington NAACP.
“We must continue to speak, to act. We need every voice, every hand, every heart,” said the Rev. Dr. DeLishia Davis, who on Sunday night (Jan. 12) formally was installed for a two-year term as the organization’s president.
She succeeds Michael Hemminger, who chaired the civil-rights organization’s local chapter for 2023-24.
In her remarks, Davis — pastor of Calloway United Methodist Church — said civil-rights advocates need to put aside personal ambitions and eschew internal strife, working instead toward common goals.
“Let us march forward together,” she said. “Unity is not optional. It is essential. It is the collective efforts of us all that will lead us to victory.”
The installation of Davis and other 2025-26 officers was conducted by the Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the Virginia NAACP.
“The future of the Arlington branch is in good hands,” Bailey said. “Arlington has always been one of those standout branches.”
In remarks as he turned over the presidency, Hemminger said the local NAACP could be proud of “all the lives that have been transformed” by its advocacy.
“It’s the result of tireless leadership,” Hemminger said. “Tireless volunteers that raised their hands and said, ‘How can I help, what can I do?'”
Arlington’s NAACP branch was chartered in 1940, a time when Virginia had, if not one of the most openly vicious, certainly one of the most rigid set of segregation policies in the nation.
In his seminal 1949 book “Southern Politics in State and Nation,” political scientist V.O. Key opined that “by comparison to Virginia, Mississippi is a hotbed of democracy.” And Arlington, at the time, was little different — the liberal tilt in local governance was still more than two decades away.
The Arlington branch’s involvement in the broader community has ebbed and flowed across time. On occasion, factionalism among members has caused internal strife.
In recent years, the organization has become more aggressive in its public efforts. It has taken on, at various times and on various issues, the Arlington government, Arlington County Democratic Committee, Arlington County Sheriff’s Office and Arlington County Civic Federation.
With the Trump administration’s arrival now imminent, there may be new battles to be waged in 2025.
The organization now has one of its own leaders serving on the County Board dais. Last November, former NAACP president JD Spain, Sr., was elected to the Board, taking office on Jan. 1.
In addition to the Rev. Davis, Arlington NAACP officers for the two-year period are:
- 1st vice president: Rosa Dunkley
- 2nd vice president: Tia Alfred
- Secretary: Kathleen McSweeney
- Assistant treasurer: Adriana Spain
- Board members: Whytni Kernodle, Kellen MacBeth, Laura Saul Edwards and James Younger
The organization’s first working meeting of the year is slated for Monday, Jan. 27.
