When Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced in October that the county would be formally apologizing for slavery, he highlighted three groups that had requested it.
Those groups, according to the executive’s office, are The Caucus of African American Leaders, the Anne Arundel County Human Rights Commission and the local branch of the NAACP.
When the apology was first announced, the Anne Arundel County NAACP discussed it on Facebook, saying that through the apology the county can hopefully “begin to atone both privately and publicly” for its role in slavery.
However, at a County Council meeting Monday night, Steven Waddy, the president of the local NAACP, said he was issuing a “clarification” about the apology, and that his organization was not “consulted” or “invited to participate in discussions regarding the apology.”
During the meeting, Waddy said he was asking that the NAACP’s endorsement of the apology be removed.
“An apology for slavery must be accompanied by tangible reparations to hold moral and legal meaning,” he said during the meeting.
In an interview Tuesday, Waddy said he learned that the past president of the NAACP, Ricky Nelson Jones, had asked the county for the apology sometime in 2024 — but never communicated that with other members of the organization.
And, since then, Waddy said, the county executive’s office did not reach back out to the NAACP or Waddy to discuss the apology.
“Nobody in my branch knew anything about this apology,” Waddy said. “We do not endorse this apology. Any apology must come with reparative justice, action.”
Waddy does not plan to be at the county’s “Day of Acknowledgement” event on Saturday, he said. The county government would need to go beyond “good faith dialog” for Waddy to engage again, he said.
Jones, pastor at Living Exactly Like Jesus Baptist Church, said he did discuss the idea of an apology with others at the NAACP, but that it was never formally discussed or part of a vote.
In an interview last week, Pittman said the apology came about after a discussion with Jones — who was still the NAACP head at the time — and the Caucus of African American Leaders of Anne Arundel County. On Tuesday, Pittman’s office said that it respects Waddy’s decision to not be part of the apology event.
“The request for a county-issued apology for its role in the institution of slavery and its lasting impacts came directly from community leaders,” Gabrielle Reed, a spokesperson for Pittman’s office, wrote in an email. “The County Executive felt it was important that the apology be part of an event that would educate, reflect, and look to the future.”
Pittman has said he hopes the apology is “a moment of connection from which then more positive things happen.”
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