Los Angeles Times

Q&A: Newly elected president of NAACP, talks Trump, voting rights and NFL protests

Derrick Johnson isn't a household name. He's never held elected office, rarely appears on television and speaks with an unassuming air verging on shyness.

And so - at first glance - he seems a surprising pick for his new gig as the public face of one of the country's most prominent civil rights groups.

This month, Johnson, a Mississippian with a degree from the South Texas College of Law, was officially selected president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He'd been interim president since the summer.

His rise follows the May ouster of former President Cornell William Brooks - part of a "system-wide refresh" that the organization said was necessary to push

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