By Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor

New Journal and Guide

As the NAACP prepares to march to Washington on Oct. 2 to protest the Tea Party’s discriminatory attitude, the Norfolk branch of the NAACP is finalizing a youth-recruitment plan.

Norfolk NAACP leaders were planning the youth rally, long before 2,000 NAACP delegates recently passed the Tea Party Amendment on July 13 at the national conference in Kansas City. The resolution calls upon “all people of goodwill” to reject the values of the Tea Party.

“We want our youth to realize that they have power,” said Jacqueline Freeman  Roberts, an educator, who has headed the NAACP ACT-SO effort for the past seven years in Norfolk. 

“I have always worked with young people,” Roberts said. “I like to encourage our youth to be involved in the decision-making process in our society. It is the only way things will change.” 

The youth recruitment effort aims to attract youngsters and young adults. While the Norfolk branch of the NAACP currently has about 20 young members, it hopes to attract at least 50 new members during its recruitment drive, which will run from August through October. The membership drive includes an anti-obesity and fitness program, a banquet, essay contest and youth rally.

“It gave me a sense of pride to finish our youth recruitment project,” said Jan House, who has served as the youth coordinator of the NAACP for three years.

“We need food donations, as well as volunteers who will serve at our youth rally and brunch on Oct. 23 from 10 a.m. to noon. The brunch that day is free. But we’re asking the youth to either pay $10 or to have a sponsor pay it. Whether we have it at Antioch or someplace else, we are still going to hold it.

“We are also soliciting door prizes and we are looking for entertainment,” House continued. “We wanted it to be fun. What’s interesting is that we will also have a voter registration table set up at the youth rally.

“We are looking for steppers and cheerleaders to perform at the youth rally,” House said. “The recruitment rally will be like a pep rally.”

Whether its the local youth drive or the national effort to ban the Tea Party, the point is to move on, said Norfolk NAACP President James Rivers. “Our goal is to create a well-rounded child who is upwardly mobile.

“The youth tell me they don’t join the NAACP because our leaders do not seem to be interested in them or their welfare,” Rivers said. “Some have said that they have felt abandoned by the NAACP.

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