<p>The Vineyard chapter honored the next generation of leaders at the 30th annual Martin Luther King Jr. event, held at the Portuguese-American Club Sunday.</p>
The Martha’s Vineyard chapter of the NAACP is by nature a forward-thinking organization, and on Sunday, during the 30th annual Martin Luther King Jr. membership event, it honored the next generation of leaders.
Held at the Portuguese-American Club, the event drew more than 40 people for a luncheon, awards ceremony and keynote speech by Doris Dumas, the first woman president of the Greater New Haven chapter of the NAACP. Vineyarders Tony Lombardi, Olivia Jacobs and Jared Livingston were honored for their ongoing service to the Island, national and global community.
“Good things happen when people come together and get to know people who are different,” said master of ceremonies Joyce Rickson.
Jared Livingson is a co-creator of Elder Tech, which helps seniors work with social media.
Jared Livingson is a co-creator of Elder Tech, which helps seniors work with social media.
“The theme of this membership event is really the intergenerational gathering,” said branch first vice president Richard Shepard. Mr. Shepard spoke of the need for younger people to be active in their local NAACPs . Many, he said, have not had the same interracial experiences as their parents and grandparents, and so ask “Why should I come?”
Mrs. Dumas provided an answer in her keynote speech, noting that “We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.” Every day, she said, the NAACP is flooded with calls for help fighting discrimination and racism. Despite the increasing presence of African-Americans in government, including, Mrs. Dumas said, the mayor of her hometown New Haven, the struggle for equality is not yet over.
“We cannot get comfortable with being ’the first of’ and ’the only,’” Mrs. Dumas said. She encouraged the audience to work together, citing a verse from Ecclesiastes:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
“We can do great things individually, but together we are a force to be reckoned with.” she said. “We can’t talk about it, we must be about it.”
Tony Lombardi is the director of the teen center at the YMCA.
Tony Lombardi is the director of the teen center at the YMCA.
The awards ceremony focused on three individuals who were doing much more than talking about change. Mr. Lombardi is the director of the Teen Center at the YMCA. He worked at the regional high school for nearly 30 years, and was a cofounder of Camp Safe Haven, a camp for children with HIV and AIDs.
“I see all of you out there, and I know that each and every one of you could receive this award,” said Mr. Lombardi. Service, he said, was both spiritual and emotional currency, and had been instrumental in Mr. Lombardi’s own life as he recovered from heroin addiction decades ago. It was a way for him to give back, he said, and as vital to his life as buying groceries.
Mr. Lombardi said that the current generation of youth growing up on the Vineyard is an inspiration in “carrying the torch of service,” a fact underscored when Olivia Jacobs and Jared Livingston received their awards, both juniors at the high school.
“She’s done so much,” Ms. Rickson said of Olivia. “She exudes so much purpose and meaning in her life.”
Last summer, Olivia traveled to Ghana to teach English and math to elementary-schoolers through the Global Leadership Adventures program, initiating her own fundraising efforts to pay for the cost of the trip. On the Island, she is an elementary-school tutor, runs an ice cream social at Windemere, and is a teacher’s assistant in a special education classroom.
Barbara Linton holds up picture she won donated by Peter Simon which he took in 1967.
Barbara Linton holds up picture she won donated by Peter Simon which he took in 1967.
Jared is a co-creator and founder of the Elder Tech program at the YMCA. The Elder Tech program partners high school students with senior citizens to help them learn about and work with social media devices. Jared also works for environmental causes, and participates in regular beach cleanups. He is a Minnesinger as well as a member of a student-run a cappella group at the high school.
“Jared is an affable young man who exudes quiet confidence,” Ms. Rickson said.
The NAACP committee had reached out to the high school guidance department for help selecting the day’s honorees. “I certainly felt quite rewarded in being able to recognize them,” Ms. Rickson said.
A surprise award was announced at the end of the program, as vice president Carrie Tankard presented Barbara Linton with the committee service award. Mrs. Linton thanked her husband and fellow committee members and her husband for all of their help
“We’re a team,” she said.
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“Reminiscing on this MLK
Sandy C.L. Burders Panama Florida“Reminiscing on this MLK weekend”.
Being now in my mid 70's born to a interracial parents, raised on the island, now retired living in Florida, married inter-racially in my senior year at college where I minored in history, successfully raised two wonderful sons and one daughter I decided to spend the last few days “Reminiscing on this MLK weekend”.
I will not state my opinion(s) or my personal conclusion(s) but am hoping that everybody who read this will open-minedly if possible do the same and do some real research. I believe a great majority of my fellow citizens have not seriously done their homework and have been allowing themselves to be blindly led in the wrong direction. I also wonder what Martin L. King would think of what is going on today in our country and if he would be happy or sad how far his people have come.
I was very interested to see who has helped and who have hurt the causes that still seem to be simmering and boiling between the two races in our country. I looked at the past to the present record and actions of the NAACP along with the backgrounds of many of their past presidents and leaders.
In no particular order I compared the differences between the white and black races and how things were and are and how things have been handled by each of those well known people mentioned below.
“Differences” between Presidents Carter, Regan, Obama, Clinton. Differences between Dr Howard Dean, Dr Ben Carson. The black Reverends Sharpton, Jackson, Reverend James Manning, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Roman Catholic priest and a social activist Michael Louis Pfleger,
United States Attoney Generals Robert Kennedy and Eric Holder.
I looked very closely at several American television hosts, political commentators, news reports and News stations such as --- Ed Schultz , Kapel "Van" Jones, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Maher, Megyn Kelly, Chris Matthews, Rush Limbaugh , Al Sharpton, Glen Beck, Michael Moore, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, Laura Ingraham and several others.
News sources – Liberal - "Main Stream Media", liberal including network news shows of CBS, ABC, and NBC,cable channels CNN, MSNBC and major newspapers, news-wires, and radio outlets, especially CBS News, Newsweek, and The New York Times.
Conservative – Fox news, NewsMax, WorldNetDaily, are generally seen as promoting a conservative agenda and although quite out numbered by the number have the highest viewing ratings as those extremely high numbers could only be obtained if liberals are also viewing them.
I reviewed past and the most recent statistics concerning crimes committed by whites and blacks, their family units data between the two and well as employment and those seeking government assistance.
All the above information sources gave me a very shocking but very real picture of where our country stood, where it stands today, how far we have come, where we are probably headed and who exactly are the highly involved players today that are involved with what is shaping our nation and what they are doing in the process.
It was very interesting to have found who the NAACP has aligned itself with has had for speakers at several of their events over the years out of the list above. It gave me a much better incite into who they really are and what they really stand for.
In closing during my long life of voting in our country I have had the opportunity to have been aligned with the Democratic party, The Republican party but then I skipped the Independent party and am now and will remain in the Unenrolled status for the rest of my days.
Sandy C.L. Burders – Panama Florida
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