San Mateo County NAACP honors past, looks to future

A longtime educator and former Millbrae councilmember, Goodman reflected on a Frederick Douglass quote that he says often informs his efforts within the advocacy realm: “It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

“That’s something that inspires me and leads me in the work that I do, addressing young people and making sure that the work that we do is recognized,” he said. “That’s been the work that I do, whether it’s addressing inequities in health, addressing economic empowerment or the criminal justice system. When you think about the work at hand and how education plays into it, it’s truly the great equalizer.”

It’s with that spirit Goodman aims to further young peoples’ commitment to activism, anti-racism and anti-Blackness, address health inequities within the county and actively respond to civil rights violations housing and the workplace.

He succeeds the Rev. Lorrie Owens, who served as NAACP chapter president from 2019 to 2024, when she stepped down due to health reasons. He took over as acting president in March 2024 from his former vice presidential role, and was formally elected president in November 2024.

His longtime experience within the San Mateo County community, ties to other advocacy organizations and marginalized groups and experience with education and politics made Goodman the easy front-runner for the presidency, Owens said.

“I can’t say enough that he was the person for the position,” she said. “He will be able to attract young people in a way that I could a little bit, but he will be able to attract more young people to the community. And he also is very able — which I did, to some degree — to work with other organizations.”

An active member in the Oakland and Hayward branches for most of her adult life, Owens moved into the San Mateo chapter for around three years before running for president. When she assumed the presidency, things were admittedly in a state of some disarray, she said.

“There was no web presence. There was no social media presence. There had been nothing written in your newspaper about the NAACP. There have been no op-eds,” she said. “It was almost like the branch had disappeared. So one of the first priorities was to make sure that San Mateo County knew that there was still an NAACP in the county.”

Her tenure spanned serious internal and external work. Within the organization, Owens rebuilt — handling finances, intraorganization disagreement, retraining officers and ensuring projects fit the NAACP’s mission and values. In an outward-facing capacity, she led the San Mateo County NAACP through a national reckoning on race sparked by the Black Lives Matter Movement, a global pandemic and community outreach efforts.

The tragic murder of George Floyd sparked long-overdue conversations about racism, both nationally and within the county, Owens said.

“I was very happy that there was dialogue coming out of that, even though that was a horribly tragic event — because a lot of people, including those in San Mateo County, told me, to my face, that it’s not like that anymore,” she said. “They saw firsthand that, yes, it was.”

Her leadership and advocacy work put her in the direct path of that racism — she recalled being verbally assaulted with racial slurs after campaigning to eliminate tasers within the Sheriff’s Office at a Board of Supervisors meeting, for example, and being threatened via email and phone. But Owens persevered, regardless.

And it’s that spirit of courage and bravery Goodman hopes to emulate during his own presidency, he said. While Owens stepped down to deal with health issues, her legacy undoubtedly remains present.

“She is outspoken. She was never afraid to stand and, even if she was by herself, she was always standing up,” he said. “I’ve had my opportunities to stand up and be outspoken, but it’s never been just me doing it on my own. It’s been individuals whose shoulders I stand on, like Rev. Owens and my grandparents, my grandmother and people that have come before me.”

Like Owens, Goodman reiterated the importance of addressing and acknowledging continuing instances of racism in San Mateo County head on. He pointed to two recent, disturbing examples: one, a 10-year-old in Menlo Park dealing with anti-Blackness, and another, in Palo Alto, where a 10-year-old had suicidal ideations due to the anti-Blackness he was experiencing.

“We’ve been … at the tip of the spear, making sure we address those issues to support families and children with the disparities that they’ve been dealing with,” he said.

It’s key to call people in, rather than out, when having conversations about racism and hatred, Goodman said.

“The incidents have not slowed down … whether we’re talking about Asian hate, anti-Blackness, antisemitism. It continues. It’s still prevalent, now more than ever,” he said. “What has to happen, I believe, is that we have to not ignore it. I think we have to create safe spaces for us to have these conversations.”

Goodman also hopes to build on the existing work of the organization — which currently has around 200 members — in activating new individual memberships and corporate partnerships. As a former member of the first NAACP club at Skyline College, he also understands the importance of prioritizing young people.

“We’re not just doing this work, but we’re actually building our bench to make sure that we’re going to have the leaders of tomorrow understanding the NAACP way and the why,” he said. “And this is not just Black students. We’ve created opportunities for all students from all walks of life.”