The NAACP’s Colorado Springs branch recently suspended all meetings and activities amid political infighting that has threatened to unravel the organization.

The local branch is “unable to operate” until at least the end of May and has sought help from the NAACP’s headquarters in becoming compliant with the national organization’s rules, according to branch president Henry Allen Jr.

The announcement has highlighted a division between past and current presidents of the local affiliate, and infighting appears to have been brewing for more than two years, branch leaders said.

Allen, who became president in January 2013, said he does not know how many members are a part of his branch, because the former secretary has refused to give him a membership roster.

Allen accused that secretary of mailing out election notices last year to people who supported former president Rosemary Harris-Lytle. No election was held, and he sent a letter to the national organization Friday requesting help.

The secretary resigned the following day, Allen said.

In the meantime, Allen has suspended all activities because he can not pay the local branch’s dues to the NAACP – an amount that varies on how many members are on the roster.

“We have been doing this battle now for the last two and a half years,” Allen said. “They were, in fact, discriminating against people within the organization based on race and their political affiliation.”

The NAACP official in charge of overseeing branches across the nation reacted with surprise Monday morning when asked of Allen’s announcement.

He was not aware of recent issues regarding the Colorado Springs branch’s compliance status. However, local branches typically file compliance paperwork this time of the year.

“I can tell you from last year’s filing, the Colorado Springs branch was compliant both in membership and everything else they were supposed to do,” said the Rev. Gill Ford, the national director of unit administration for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

A call from The Gazette to Harris-Lytle, who heads the NAACP Colorado-Montana-Wyoming State Area Conference, was not returned Monday afternoon.

A visit by the NAACP’s national president, Cornell William Brooks, to Colorado Springs shortly after an attempted bombing also appeared to spur infighting.

The Colorado Springs branch gained national attention in January when a man placed a pipe bomb attached to a 2-gallon gas can and a road flare next to the building it shares with a barbershop. Only part of the device detonated and no one was hurt.

Authorities initially believed the explosion was a hate crime or domestic terrorism. However, the man later arrested in connection with the explosion, Thaddeus Murphy, told investigators that he had targeted an accountant who once worked at the building because he had not returned Murphy’s tax records, according to an arrest affidavit filed in federal court.

Bob Null, who sits on the local branch’s executive committee, complained that rather than meet solely with local members, or visit the building, Brooks favored spending time with Harris-Lytle.

Null said the NAACP’s headquarters needs to show more support for the local branch.

“It’s just been one constant struggle after the other, with the past president still trying to run the branch,” he said.

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Contact Jakob Rodgers: 476-1654

Twitter @JakobRodgers