LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A packed house at the NAACP office in the Parkland neighborhood, as Raoul Cunningham takes the podium to preside over his final meeting as Louisville NAACP chapter president.
"It has truly been an honor and a privilege for me to serve as the president of the Louisville branch NAACP," Cunningham said to a room full of watchful eyes.
The 81-year-old has held the leadership position for more than two decades. His involvement in the local chapter started back in 1957 when he joined the Louisville NAACP Youth Council at age 14.
"Born in segregation, had an opportunity to participate in the end of segregation, to come through police brutality, to now see a consent decree in place, and hopefully the city and the judge will implement that consent decree," Cunningham said.
Cunningham is one of the few civil rights leaders left who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in Louisville in the 1960s.
Now, 23 years later, he is stepping down and First Vice President Raymond Burse is stepping up, as the next chapter president.
"I'm just excited to be the new president of the Louisville NAACP and looking forward to making this organization bigger and stronger," Burse said. "What I do hope to do is continue the work that [Cunningham] was doing."
Born in Hopkinsville, Burse graduated from Centre College before attending Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law School.
"Raymond comes prepared to be president," Cunningham said.
Both Cunningham and Burse share two goals moving into the new year: an emphasis on a smooth transition of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) leadership and reinstating transportation to magnet and charter schools, and police accountability through the DOJ consent decree.
"We got to be in a position to review and evaluate the data and information on the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) as it come forward to be able to do that. So that's number one priority," Burse said.
A signed 248-page decree, serving as a roadmap for rebuilding trust between the community and LMPD, a roadmap that both Cunningham and Burse see as a sign of hope.
"There's hope that the city will make the necessary progress. We can't go back," Cunningham said. "I would hope that someday we could say the NAACP has run its course and no longer necessary. But, that day is not today."
Proving that while leadership changes, hope stays alive.
Cunningham said he will remain on the organization's national board of directors and finish out his term.
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