Editor’s Note: What follows is the text of a speech made by Laurie Perry-Henry at the NAACP Martin Luther King dinner held last weekend. Ms. Perry-Henry is president of the Vineyard chapter of the NAACP.

Good evening. It is an honor to be here with so many Islanders who are committed to justice. When I look at a crowd like this, I am reminded there is good reason why for 103 years the NAACP has never asked if we will win, but only when we will win.

I am just back from troubled Israel. There, an ultra-Orthodox Jew of the Haredi sect spat on an eight-year-old girl he deemed immodestly dressed and other ultra-orthodox members of that sect were insisting that women sit at the back of public buses. A settlement illegally built by ultra-orthodox Zionists on the Palestinian West Bank was demolished by Israeli Army soldiers. And the Israeli government, fearful of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, was hinting at making a pre-emptive strike against that country.

Some people regard social networks (like Facebook) as a waste of precious time. Others find them a lifeline to a meaningful social world. I’m in the latter category, especially on an Island like Martha’s Vineyard. How come? To explain, I’m going to take a little detour in this conversation — so please stay with me.

A few days ago, I was checking the tides on the Internet for West Falmouth. I visit there frequently in my Whaler and my mom lives there. The site also gives the time of sunset, moonrise, and full moon. I noticed that on Tuesday the time of full moon coincided with the time of sunset and moonrise. All these events were to happen within minutes of each other! This is unusual and I thought it would be fun to share it with friends. I checked the weather and it looked like it might be clear enough to see both moonrise and sunset at the same time.

Imagine your dream job. Now imagine you could spend the afternoon with someone who has it. That’s exactly what members of the Martha’s Vineyard Youth Leadership Initiative did last week for the second annual job shadow day. They aspire to become green architects, economists, green engineers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, environmental scientists, farmers and even a small farm lobbyist.