NAACP Merced County Branch 63rd Freedom Fund Banquet

NAACP® Merced County

63rd Annual Freedom Fund Banquet

Saturday, October 7, 2023

In Memory of Professor Charles J. Ogletree,

Jr.

“To me, it is the key that turns things in the right direction. Educating every child makes an enormous amount of difference”

~Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.

WE ARE NAACP

We are the home of grassroots activism for civil rights and social justice. We advocate, agitate, and litigate for the civil rights due to Black America. In our cities, schools, companies, and courtrooms, we are the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Thurgood Marshall, and many other giants.

OUR VISION

We envision an inclusive community rooted in liberation where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.

OUR LEADERS

Our National Board and executive staff believe deeply in our mission and bring decades of experience in advocacy, organizing, and litigation to steer our efforts to secure civil rights and social justice.

WE MAKE AN IMPACT

In advocacy, we work to make sure Black voices are heard, demands are met, and Black excellence is amplified. From classrooms and courtrooms to city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works to secure the social and political power that will end race-based discrimination.

EMPOWERMENT

As a 501c4 organization, we're organized for purpose, not profits. Our 501c3 partner organization, known as NAACP Empowerment Programs, accepts fully taxdeductible donations, as allowed by the IRS. The Legal Defense Fund – also referred to as the NAACP-LDF was founded in 1940 as a part of the NAACP but separated in 1957 to become a completely separate entity. It is recognized as the nation's first civil and human rights law organization and shares our commitment to equal rights.

NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The California Hawaii State Conference NAACP is committed to equality and justice for all. Your oldest and most effective civil rights organization in the country will continue the fight for freedom until all people have realized the equal hand of justice.

As we embark on a new generation of leaders picking up the fight for civil rights, I am proud to be the one leading the California Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP. Now more than ever we have to be vigilant, and make sure we are at the forefront of the movement to build political power and fight for the wellbeing of the Black Community. We find ourselves directly in the middle of yet another civil rights movement, and now is not the time to rest.

I hope that you join all of us in the fight!

Rick L. Callender, ESQ. CA/HI NAACP President

The President’s Welcome

63rd Annual Freedom Fund Banquet

Dinner Program

Reception and Social Hour

Introduction of President

Emcees: Mrs. Monique Williams and Mr. Orlando Taylor

Welcome President Allen Brooks

Invocation Pastor Allen Huddelston

Presentation of Colors Merced Sheriff Explorers

The National Anthem

Pledge of Allegiance

Song ~ Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing

The Black National Anthem

Attendee Participation

Attendee Participation

Black Student Union & Attendee

Participation

Scholarship Recipient Ms. Zaynah Wali

Speaker - 2020 Freedom Fund

Black History What They Did Not Teach Us in School

President Allen Brooks

Keynote Speaker Address Regina Adams, Criminal Defense Attorney

Awards Ceremony

Live Auction

Closing Remarks

Benediction

President Allen Brooks

Mrs. Monique Williams and Mr. Orlando Taylor

President Allen Brooks

Pastor Richard Johnson

Branch Officers

Executive Committee

Allen Brooks President

Baraka Carter 1st Vice President

Hannah Niane 2nd Vice President

Virginia Riley Secretary

Dorothea “Lynn” White Treasurer

Sheilah Brooks Joyce Dale

Alexandria Marquez

Antoine Miller-Miles

Jerome Rasberry, Jr.

Gameelah Mohamed Wanda Patrick

Cater 2 U by Gena Savoy

Keynote Speaker

Regina Adams is a practicing criminal defense attorney in Merced, CA. Adams attended Merced City schools as a youth. Adams attended the University of California, San Diego where she studied earned a B.A. in History and a B.A. for an Individual Studies Major with a focus on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in American Law. Adams attended the New England School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated with her Juris Doctor.

Adams began her career practicing Social Security Disability Law. She then became a public defender and engaged in practice in the areas of Dependency, Delinquency, Conservatorships, Probate Guardianships, and Criminal Defense. Adams is currently in private practice.

Adams serves as the Vice President of the Merced County Unity Bar and as a mentor to UC Merced students who desire to attend law school. Her work with the Unity Bar focuses on improving equality and inclusion in the legal profession specifically by advocating for equality and inclusion as it relates to judicial appointments.

JOIN US!

As a member of the NAACP Branch 1047 in Merced I can proudly say we’re doing things We’re moving vigorously ahead

We’re stepping out and stepping up Being a part of the change

Making our community a safer place In a way that may seem strange

We’re focusing on the black and the brown children Who are constantly being ignored

We’re letting them know their time is now

They can spread their wings and soar

We’re telling them the sky is the limit Get serious about your education

We’re standing behind them, holding them up When their life becomes a situation

For far too long our young people Have been stuck at the back of the bus

It’s not okay…not then… not today

What in the world is the matter with us?

Each one reach one - Each one teach one Is really a catchy phrase

Which we are turning into action In so many different ways

When we feed hope to our children

Letting them know the village does care

And we teach them to call on Jesus

They can go anywhere

They can be a lawyer in Beverly Hills

Or play football for the NFL

They can be a politician in Washington DC Or a doctor that makes people well

The school to prison pipeline is a plan that doesn’t have to be Be a part of the change right now

Join the NAACP!

By Joyce Dale Executive Committee NAACP Merced County

Guest Speaker

2020 Freedom Fund Scholarship Reciepant

Zaynah Waili born and raised in the city of Merced. She is currently attending the University of California, Davis and majoring in Political Science with a minor Psychology. Upon graduation she plans to attend Law School to obtain her Juris Doctor so that she may provide services to the underserved community while seeking justice for those wrongfully convicted, over sentenced, or experienced a lack of due process.

MERCED COUNTY BRANCH

Past Presidents

1937 – 1940

1952 – 1962

1962 – 1968 Joe James, Sr.

1968 – 1972

1972 – 1979 Julia Beale

1979 – 1981 Lenard Rhodes

2023 Scholarship Recipients

To all the graduates may all your dreams come true and know that the NAACP is proud of your current accomplishment of graduation and wish you all the best life has to offer you going forward.

Allen Brooks, Jr.

Nicolas Felix

Reena Grewal

Kyra Johnson

Jaxson Percoats

Marcus Cardenas

Our Evening Emcees

Monique Williams is a 3 Principles Practitioner, Mentor, Trainer of trainers, Peace Ambassador, Co-founder and CEO of Conduits Do It Consulting, 3 generations, family owned, specializing in generational wealth, health, and wellbeing. Worldwide and Community Life Coaching, Peace Ambassador to the Nations, Aspiring Author, Amend Ambassador, Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Certified Rewilding Guide Mentor specializing in Self Image building, Public Speaking, Grief Coaching resolution, building healthy Relationships Coaching, Child of the King. For the last 22 years has been a Public Servant, Peace Officer in the Prisons of California. Wife, Mother, Volunteer, and Community Leader.

Orlando Taylor was born in St. Louis, MO where he spent 11 years volunteering for St. Paul Saturdays Manhood and Leadership Development Program, helping African American males navigate life and go on to college (www.stpaulsaturdays.com).

Growing up, he was fascinated with writing, science, reading, and this interest led to some early exposure to reading comic books, poetry, literature. Later, Orlando developed a passion for ideas that could be transformed into scripts for TV and film. In My Scars

Are My Birthmark, Orlando explores the issues one might face in life and those common to the African American community. These are the loves, relationships, and the fight to have a life of meaning in a country that wants to erase you. He writes in the hopes of informing his readers about black-experience like James Baldwin or Richard Wright and examines how these experiences collide as Octavia E. Butler. He has been featured in several anthologies of poetry.

NAACP

Lifetime Members

Alice D Bailey

Rene Gutierrez

Constance Monroe

Robert Monroe

Michelle W. Allison

Dorothea Lynn White

Katherine Brokaw

Arturo Durazo, Ph. D

Thank you for showing your commitment to the NAACP!

In Memoriam

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. 1952 ~ 2023

Charles James Ogletree, Jr. Courthouse

NAACP Merced County Vanguard Awards

The President’s Award ???

The Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Award

Zanyah Wali

The Youth Leadership Award

Tynique Williams

The Community Organization Award

Merced College

NAACP

Merced County

The Claude C. Hudson Award Winning Branch

Outstanding Orginal Community Programs and Advocacy

36th Annual NAACP California Hawaii State Convention

Join us in San Francisco for the 36th Annual NAACP CA/HI Convention!

Registration for the 36th annual NAACP CA/HI State Convention is OPEN. Register today! This year’s NAACP CA/HI State Convention will bring together elected officials, activists, organizers, faith leaders, and entertainers for workshops and discussions to promote solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing Black communities within California and Hawaii, including Next-Gen Leadership, environmental justice, housing, veterans affairs, labor, education, and more.

Stop the Hate Legal Redress

The NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference offers FREE legal redress consultations through our Stop the Hate Legal Redress Pipeline. This service is available and open to all California-Hawaii Branches.

WHAT IS IT? In 2022, the State Conference received funding to provide services to victims and survivors of hate incidents, hate crimes, and their families. Stop the Hate is an outreach program to increase awareness and resources to dismantle racism in historically vulnerable groups. This project seeks to introduce a multilevel campaign to affect the culture, policy, and system changes necessary to eradicate hate and discrimination in California by developing a streamlined referral process from local Branch Legal Redress Committees to local attorneys. The State will use the monies to reduce the financial barrier that prevents individuals from accessing local attorneys, as some law firms charge for an initial consultation.

Voting Rights

NAACP strongly urge elected officials of all political parties at the national, state, and local levels to work together to enact policy, appoint federal, state and local election officials and judges who will protect the health of every voter and ensure the opportunity to cast a free and unfettered ballot and have their vote counted.

~ADVERTISMENTS~

Program Sponsors

From the NAACP Merced County Branch to the all the People and Organizations for helping to make this event a success.

Dr. Godbold & Effie Godbold

Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria

President Chris Vitelli, Merced College

Former Assemblymember Adam Gray

City of Merced Fire Department

University of California, Merced

The City of Merced

Travis Credit Union

United Way of Merced County

The HateDust Project

Heyworth Government Affairs

Merced County Office of Education

Merced Irrigation District

Dignity Health

Joseph Gallo Farms

Merced Heart Associate

The Law Office of Brenda Pannell

Soldavi

Allen Brooks - Realty Executives

The Spendlove Foundation

Matthew and Catherine Nutcher

The Cummings

Ever After Weddings and Events

Merced Sheriff Explorers

Central Valley Community Foundation

America

“My Country, ’Tis of Thee”

By Samuel F. Smith, 1808–1895

1. My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims’ pride, From ev’ry mountainside Let freedom ring!

2. My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills. My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.

3. Let music swell the breeze And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom’s song; Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong.

4. Our fathers’ God, to thee, Author of liberty, To thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom’s holy light. Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King!

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing

Also known as “The Black National Anthem”

By James Weldon Johnson

Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of liberty; Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hop unborn had died; yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers died?

We have come over a way that with tears have been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last where the white gleamof our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; thou who hast by the might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee; lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee, shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand, true to our god, true to our native land.

Thank You!

The NAACP Merced County Branch wishes to acknowledge and thank all of the members, groups, patrons, and supporters of this year’s Freedom Fund Banquet.

Your generosity makes it possible to continue toward our goal of removing the barriers of racial discrimination through a democratic process.

NAACP Merced County PO Box 1107 Merced, CA. 95341 (209) 883-6226

www.mercednaacp.com