The keynote speaker for the 17th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet sponsored by the Fayette County Branch of the of the NAACP held Oct. 25 was radio personality, community activist and former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Boazman.
Boazman in speaking about the lawsuit on district voting said Fayette is a county where the NAACP had to file suit to get equity and a level playing field.
“We’ve come all the way from Carver Homes (where Boazman lived as a child) to Aberdeen Parkway,” Boazman said.
Many of Boazman’s remarks referenced the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. Boazman said Nehemiah wept, he fasted and he got direction.
“Just keep working. We live in a tough society with many dream-haters,” Boazman said, noting that that such can be the case in life, in education, in business and sometimes in families. “What God has for you is for you and I don’t care who says ‘no.’”
Likening the actions of the Fayette NAACP to those of Nehemiah, Boazman said, “The NAACP stood up. We came here to tell you there’s a new day coming. NAACP, don’t get weary. Be like Nehemiah. Don’t come down from the wall.”
Commenting on the Nov. 4 election, Boazman also told the group of 170 they did not have the right to sit at home and not vote.
The annual event included the presentation of several awards. Those were the Congressman John Lewis Freedom Fighter Award to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and two community service awards to Jordan’s Sales and Salvage owner Robert Jordan and Sandy Creek High School graduate Jerrell A. Melton, III. The President’s Award went to longtime local NAACP volunteer and Fayette Branch charter member Alice Jones.
