Islanders look to reboot Hilton Head-Bluffton NAACP chapter

Hilton Head and Bluffton residents are looking to restore the local chapter of the NAACP after about eight years without the group’s presence.

The revival has been spearheaded in part by Richard Hammes, president of the Liberal Men of the Lowcountry, and retired civil rights attorney Richard Ritter. Ritter was previously a committee member of the branch, when it was operational.

“In 2015 or around there it kind of lost steam,” Hammes said. “Then there was no on really to lead it, so it just drifted away.”

Several issues affecting Black and Gullah residents have highlighted the importance of a new chapter, Hammes said, like the U.S. 278 construction’s impact on Stoney, potential economic constraints on Gullah land owners as the town revamps its zoning, and the ongoing saga of Josephine Wright, a Gullah land owner who is being sued by a construction company that she suspects is trying to force her to sell her land.

To establish a local chapter, Hammes said the NAACP requires at least 50 members and, eventually, the election of leadership, like a chapter president and treasurer. He said he’s received word from around 60 people interested in joining the revived group.

The reforming chapter will have its first meeting Friday evening at 6 p.m., at Hilton Head’s St. James Baptist Church. Brenda Murphy, president of the South Carolina NAACP State Conference, will attend to answer organizational questions.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a leader, but (Murphy) said you don’t need a leader right away,” Hammes said. “Eventually, you need a leader, and then probably some officers, but we haven’t been able to find anybody at the moment who wants to take this off. It’s a task, you’ve got to find someone who’s dedicated and wants to get out there and push some things.”

The new chapter would be centered on Hilton Head and Bluffton issues, Hammes said. Other nearby NAACP chapters exists in Charleston and Savannah.

Other local groups have been supportive of reconstituting the local NAACP chapter, Hammes said. Taiwan Scott, president of the island’s National Action Network chapter, said he’s offered his facilities to the group for use if needed.

Luana Graves-Sellars, founder of Lowcountry Gullah, said native island leaders have also voiced support for the chapter’s reconstitution.

“It’s something that the leadership is embracing,” Graves-Sellars said. “It’s something that our community had before, and would be good to have back.”