Remembering leaders past and creating those of the future
♦ The Freedom Fund Banquet commemorates women’s influence on civil rights in America.
In a portion of her keynote address at the Freedom Fund Banquet, under the theme “Women of Freedom,” Georgia NAACP President Phyllis Blake had one last name to mention, in recognizing the bold women who have fought to lift the voices and place of their people in America.
That last name was Ida B. Wells, an investigative journalist who had to carry a pistol for protection, just to do her job. Wells persevered through threats of violence against her to share with the world the terror of black lynchings in the South.
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,” Blake, the first woman ever elected to her post, quoted Wells, who exposed the flight of 6,000 black people from Memphis after three of her friends were lynched.
The model set by Wells and her words, along with those of thousands and thousands of other women involved in the pursuit of justice over the years, should continue to bring inspiration for those following along the vein of her legacy today, Blake said.
“One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap,” Blake said, once again quoting Wells.
Rome-Floyd NAACP President Samuel Malone followed Blake at the podium inside the Wilder Center at Rome First United Methodist Church on Saturday, before around 150 gathered there. He said the banquet likely will not be the only major event held by the local group this year, as it celebrates 100 years since its inception.
“I got a lot on my heart and on my mind,” Malone said.
Malone struck a note of finding common ground in the midst of a fractured political climate in the United States, most importantly on the issue of family separations at the Mexican border under a zero-tolerance policy of President Donald Trump’s administration. A promise of reuniting the families has been made by Trump.
“It’s nonpartisan,” Malone said, adding that anyone with “a heart in your chest and a brain in your head” knows this policy was wrong.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” Blake repeated the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during her address.
With loud applause filling the room, Blake called on those in attendance to contact their elected officials and oppose the “horrendous immigration policies of separating families,” either at the border or in the heart of the country.
“Is (Congressman Tom Graves) here tonight?,” Blake asked — he was not. “His number is 706-226-5320.”
Referencing the Bible, specifically Exodus 4:2, Blake called for the realization of the power each citizen has in their grasp, and how it must be put into action for the betterment of the nation.
“Ladies, women of freedom, what do we have in our hands. Just like Moses with the rod in his hand, we can achieve with what is in our hand and utilize the divine power with us to accomplish our goals,” she said. “As 45 (Trump) continues his inappropriate rhetorical remarks, we must remember we have the ballot in our hand. We must vote. We must register voters, and we must take voters to the polls.”
Blake then launched into several examples of taking control through the power each individual is granted.
“What else is in our hand? The buck. The mighty dollar,” she said. “Be careful where you spend your dollar.”
Using an analysis from the University of Georgia Selig Center for Economic Growth, Blake shared the need for increasing the buying power of black people by boosting the circulation of money within the community — money circulates no more than once in the black community before leaving it, she said. In comparison, money circulates within the Latino community six times, within the Asian community nine times and an “unlimited” amount in the white community.
Ending the “school to prison pipeline” — officials in Georgia estimate the number of jail cells needed in the future on the number of third-graders not reading on grade level, she said. Stopping that pipeline requires educational interventions to ensure strength in literacy and graduation of high school.
This also ties in with the bolstering of family units and having fathers play the role of the spiritual leaders, Blake said, and stopping incarceration practices which break families apart. The impact shown on the “dismal” data on the jailing of black Americans — they account for 12 percent of the U.S. population but make up 44 percent of those incarcerated — speaks to a great need for reform.
In closing her speech, Blake said, “We need to step up … to the plate to bless our children and encourage our children and educate our children. Vote and remember to watch where we spend our dollars.”