APNewsBreak: NAACP names new leader for more active future

The board of directors of the nation's oldest civil rights organization made the decision on Saturday.

The NAACP has made a decision to hire its interim leader, Derrick Johnson, as its 19th president and CEO. The Jackson, Mississippi native served as interim leader since July and previously as vice president of the board.

Since the departure of president and CEO Cornell Williams in May, Johnson has led the organization's renewed efforts to support local chapters and reestablish itself in the face of growing groups such as Black Lives Matter.

Johnson said in an interview with the Associated Press the NAACP will be more politically active and will amend its non-profit status so it can engage in unlimited lobbying and promotion of issues and political candidates.

According to the release, Johnson is a longtime member who previously served as the director for the MS state conference of the NAACP.

"In the coming months, the NAACP will embark upon a historic national listening tour to ensure that we harness the energy and voices of our grassroots members, to help us achieve transformational change, and create an internal culture designed to push the needle forward on civil rights and social justice", a statement from the group said in May.

The NAACP recently sued the Trump administration to stop it from eliminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to be temporarily shielded from deportation.