Separate Groups, but the Same Goal

The Times ran a story by John L. Mitchell (Feb. 18) regarding the filing by our office of a lawsuit.

Mitchell’s article was quite good, and it was generally accurate in reporting the story, including his identification of our office as the western regional office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. and not a part of the NAACP. We very much appreciated the time he put into the story and the newspaper’s willingness to run the story.

The headline above Mitchell’s article, however, erroneously stated, “Apartment Complex Charged With Bias in NAACP Lawsuit.” As I explained to Mitchell when he interviewed me, and as he also explained in the body of his article, the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (often refered to as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF) are completely separate and different organizations.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1990, is not part of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, although LDF was founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. For more than 30 years, LDF has had a separate board, program, staff, office and budget.

We want to thank you again for running the story, and we hope that the unfortunate error in this headline will not be repeated in the future.

PATRICK O. PATTERSON

Attorney,

NAACP Legal Defense Fund