NAACP freedom fund banquet draws crowd

All walks of life gathered Saturday night for the NAACP Monroe County Branch Annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Monroe County NAACP President Bill Vance said the banquet hall was overflowing because of the unexpected arrival of Indiana NAACP president Barbara Bolling. \nThe theme for this year's banquet was "Conscience of a Nation." For former Monroe County NAACP President Clarence W. Gillium, the theme means that the focus should be on education, the political issue he considers most important.\nGillium was president of the Monroe County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for 26 years, before Vance became the organization's president in December 2004. \nGillium said the NAACP's mission includes aiding the government, pointing out its successes and shortcomings and ensuring liberty and justice for all citizens. The organization's job is mostly to support and encourage lawmakers, he said. Gillium said Vance is successfully continuing the mission of the NAACP.\nVance encouraged the audience to support the NAACP since it contributes so heavily to the community.\n"Help the NAACP before the NAACP has to help you," Vance said. \nThe ceremony began with introductions from Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan and Monroe County Commissioner Iris Kiesling, followed by a performance by the IU African American Choral Ensemble called Soul-ACE.\nAfter the vocal performance, keynote speaker Alvin Chambliss, an IU visiting professor in the departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Higher Education, and Student Affairs, took control of the podium and asked the audience to stand up, raise their hands and shout, "I can be what God wants me to be." \nChambliss, with a strong Southern accent, told the audience that 27 members of his family are victims of Hurricane Katrina and used the hurricane as an example of how African Americans are treated unfairly. Chambliss said the New Orleans area is about 68 to 75 percent black. He said 50 percent of those people live in poverty and the government favored wealthy whites by aiding them before they helped the blacks. \n"Those with means did not look out for those without means," Chambliss said. \nChambliss has visited New Orleans since the hurricane and said he talked with Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who named Chambliss the spokesman for all Hurricane Katrina victims.\nChambliss also stressed the importance of education and criticized newly-appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. He said that in 1991 Roberts "wrote a brief that, if enacted, will set black colleges back for the next 50 years."\n"The educational system has never been adequately designed for black folk," Chambliss said. "The original intent of education was not to include black people."\nChambliss said that it is unfair that the Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery in the United States, is not taught in law schools across the country and the achievements of blacks are ignored. \nHe also said that the Supreme Court has an "elitist-type structure" that does not respect all citizens. \n"The judiciary is the worst branch of government," Chambliss said, calling it corrupt and its members selfish. He also said that every action in Congress is driven by money. \nChambliss said that in order to achieve equality, the government must be bipartisan and that the NAACP needs to help facilitate that.\n"The organization of the NAACP cannot afford to be an appendage to the Democratic Party," Chambliss said. \nThe NAACP must be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve justice, he said. Members of the NAACP should identify themselves as a disciple of Jesus Christ, instead of identifying with a national political party. Chambliss stressed justice and equality in his speech, not politics, though he did criticize President Bush. He specifically cited the president for a refusal to raise taxes to aid Hurricane Katrina victims in favor of cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in America.\nChambliss said that America is still far from perfect and that there is still a lack of leadership in the country.\n"Citizenship is a combination of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments," he said. "All these amendments stood for universal freedom, and that is a command America has refused to accept"