Voting, building community emphasized at annual NAACP dinner

Unity and the importance of voting were the focuses of the Cape Girardeau branch of the NAACP�s second annual Freedom Fund Dinner on Saturday evening at Ray�s Plaza Banquet Center in Cape Girardeau.

Ron North, president of the local chapter, said the Cape Girardeau branch began as an advocacy group, and it�s �kind of evolved over the years.�

�Our unit is more interested in what we can do and how we can work with other organizations and make a better community, and kind of get people to stop looking at �the others,� and start looking at each other, because we belong to one another and we�ve got to take care of one another,� North said.

He also said he believes everyone should vote, and it should be �almost mandatory.�

�We ought to do whatever we have to do to make it as easy as possible for people to vote ...� North said. �We do voter education ... and last year we held a forum of all the people that were running, and invited people out from the community to come ask questions. We try to educate them, and get them resources.�

When asked how he would respond to someone who doesn�t think its necessary to vote, North said, �All you have to do is look around and see when things are getting bad, and when it seems like �the other-isms� are starting to rise up and have a voice, where people who use the fact that you�re not like them ... that�s where your vote becomes really important. If you don�t vote, we have things that are happening right now in our country. There�s this huge divide.�

The evening�s keynote speaker, the Rev. Ron Webb, pastor of Mount Calvary Powerhouse Church in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, spoke on several topics but they all had the same theme: emphasizing the importance of embracing opportunities and the need for community.

�We spend too much time worrying about what other people think about us. And what they think about you doesn�t make you who you are,� Webb said. �Don�t worry about the critics. God�s gonna use the haters to help you. ... Sometimes all we need is the right person at the right time to open the right door.�

Webb encouraged everyone to �get out and vote� because �the power of one vote, it makes a difference.�

�Work it this year. Stop complaining about who you don�t like in office, and do something about it,� Webb said. �Get out and vote. Because, listen, if you don�t get out and vote, you have no right to talk.�

Melissa Stickel, executive director of the Caring Council and co-chairwoman of Authentic Voices, said she wants people to vote, but she wants people to be �educated voters.�

�Authentic Voices and NAACP work really close in partnership. We also advocate for people engaging in their civic duty,� Stickel said. �We also really want to educate people, too, so that they�re voting with substance behind it.�

Stickel said she thinks one of the important things is acquiring �mass action.�

�If everybody in your district were voting or if everybody in your community were voting, then you can see the impact of your vote,� Stickel said. �But it�s clearly hard when the majority of one segment of the population is voting but then only one or two in another part are voting. I think that�s more so than not being educated.�

Loretta Prater, a local author and retired Southeast Missouri State University dean of the College of Health and Human Services, was also in attendance Saturday, and said it�s �just a disgrace when people say stuff like, �My vote doesn�t count.��

�There are people who died for the right to vote. ... Every vote counts, and it�s so important to get out there and vote. ... Let your voice be heard, because I just think of the blood that was shed, people just dying trying to vote,� Prater said.

In addition to a silent auction to support the cause, awards were presented by Southeast�s assistant director of academic support center�s Tameka Randle, pastor Renita Green, North and Stephanie Small. Accolades included the NAACP scholarship to Kayla Turner of Caruthersville, Missouri; the President�s Award to Pat McBride Thompson; and the Dr. Edward Spicer Excellence in Education Award to Cape Girardeau Central High School faculty member Theresa Taylor.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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