CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS

At the Dayton Branch NAACP office, President Jessie Gooding, 70, eased slowly into his seat and sighed.

`When you get old, you get tired," said Gooding, a retired chemist who has headed the civil rights bellwether for 14 years.

He had just returned from a weekend meeting in Toledo. Along for the lessons was John Blanks, the 17-year-old local youth president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Gooding seemed happy about that.

But he's unhappy about the number of young black professionals and blue collar workers who come to the storefront office, located at 1528 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, only when they need help filing an employment discrimination complaint.

Gooding and the heads of other traditional civil rights groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference say attracting and raising the next generation of civil rights leaders is a tough task because many young professionals are busy, and others don't see the need for the organization.

Gooding's three NAACP vice presidents are 58 and older. They hope to move more baby boomers or generation Xers into the line of succession.

"I've been begging for young folk to come in and take over the leadership."

Gooding would not disclose membership figures, but said that locally membership is down about 10 percent and gradually increasing.

Said member Annette Payne Brown, 30: 'I've tried to get other people in their thirties to join. They'll pay their dues, but won't come to meetings. People are just busy."

The SCLC, the flagship of Martin Luther King's movement, also yearns for youthful leadership. The Rev. Raleigh Trammell, 60, has been president of the Dayton chapter for 20 years.

"We're no longer suffering with physical discrimination. Racism is more institutional," Trammell said. "Our young people suffer the illusion that we have nothing left to fight for and to return to methods of the old civil rights guard is outdated."

Gooding and Trammell wish more of those trained by the Black Leadership Development Program, sponsored by Parity 2000 and facilitated by the Dayton Urban League, would come their way.

Urban League Executive Director Willie Walker said many of those young professionals are serving on boards and commissions such as the Urban League and the Private Industry Council.

At the NAACP office's sparsely furnished waiting area, sat David Taylor, a 30-year-old truck driver, who accompanied a friend who filed a complaint.

"There should be people in my age group here," he said, observing that those busy at desks were about 30 years his senior. "Who's going to take these folks' place?"