LAURINBURG — Tickets to Saturday’s Scotland County Freedom Fund Banquet are still available.

The cost is $25 per person and can be purchased at the door.

NAACP said the price is a bargain because local attendees will be one of the first group’s in the state to hear newly elected state NAACP President T. Anthony Spearman.

The dinner will include performances by the Cool Springs UMC Men’s Gospel Choir and the Rev. Pee Wee Clark.

Spearman, pastor of Clinton Tabernacle AME Zion Church and recently third vice president of the state NAACP, is the featured speaker for the dinner that helps raise money to support the work of the Scotland County Branch of the NAACP. The banquet will be held Saturday at 6 p.m. at Bright Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Laurinburg.

He was elected earlier this month at the 74th annual N.C. NAACP Convention in Raleigh that also included talks by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and journalist Roland Martin.

He replaces Bishop William Barber, who stepped down after 12 years as president. Barber plans to work in Washington, DC with the Poor People’s Campaign, but will continue to serve as president emeritus of the NAACP. Spearman has been a member of the organization for 53 years. During that time, the 66-year-old has also served as chairman of the N.C. NAACP Religious Affairs Committee, and president of the Hickory Branch of the NAACP.

The Greensboro pastor said he hopes to build on the work of his predecessor.

“This state conference is woke, and we ain’t skerd,” he said in a statement after his election. The pastor said the group under his leadership will continue to pursue five principal goals:

— Pro-labor, anti-poverty policies that ensure economic sustainability;

— Educational equality that ensures that every child receives a high-quality, well-funded, constitutional, diverse public education;

— Healthcare for all by enduring access to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and by providing environmental protection;

— Fairness in the criminal justice system by addressing the continuing inequalities in the system for black, brown, and poor white people;

— Protect and expand voting rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, immigrant rights, and the fundamental principle of equal protection under the law.

T. Anthony Spearman
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_Anthony_Spearman_cmyk.jpgT. Anthony Spearman
Spearman to speak at Freedom Fund Banquet

Scott Witten

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Reach Scott Witten at 910-506-3023