The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, is a local political powerbroker with many business holdings, although he calls himself a simple preacher. Arthur Johnson, retired WSU senior vice president who preceded Anthony as branch president of the NAACP said he felt some of Anthony's activities such as the joint Freedom Fund Dinner for the NAACP and the Freedom Weekend, hip hop activities that appear to be intermingled with the 50-year old dinner event and administered by a non-profit run by Anthony, are difficult to justify. "I don't know how that can be justified as a proper function of branch president," said Johnson.