By Arthur Foulkes
TERRE HAUTE — The NAACP is set for a big weekend in Terre Haute.
Starting today, the statewide NAACP convention officially begins at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 41 South. Up to 300 delegates and supporters of the civil rights organization from around Indiana are expected to attend.
“We invite the public to come out,” said Barbara Bolling, a Gary-based attorney and president of the Indiana NAACP. “We’re excited. We’ve got a really good program” planned, she said.
The NAACP convention’s “mass meeting” is 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Second Missionary Baptist Church at 1400 Oak St. A soul food dinner precedes the meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Attending the mass meeting is free. The soul food dinner is $13, organizers said.
The three-day convention, which also marks the organization’s 100th anniversary, will include workshops, speakers, awards banquets and other events, organizers said. One of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black Army Air Corps flying unit during World War II, also is scheduled to participate.
“So far we’re looking really good,” said Allegra Allen, Terre Haute NAACP president. Allen and other members of the Terre Haute branch were working Thursday at the Holiday Inn making final arrangements for the weekend. More than 100 people had registered for the convention by early Thursday afternoon, she said.
“I would like the people of Terre Haute to rethink their attitude toward the NAACP,” Allen said when asked about the goals for the weekend. “I’d like more community involvement.”
Registered delegates also will vote for state officers during the three-day event, organizers said. Bolling, who has been the Indiana NAACP president for six years, also is up for re-election this weekend, she said.
Saturday’s events will begin with an invitation-only breakfast honoring Jennifer Nelson, an officer with the Terre Haute branch of the NAACP who passed away over the summer. Nelson, 41, was the Terre Haute NAACP’s second vice president and had been a leader in ACT-SO, an NAACP-organized national academic competition.
Nelson “played a big part in making that program a huge success,” Allen said. “She was a big part of making sure [children involved in ACT-SO] didn’t get left behind,” added James Burgess, the state NAACP’s third vice president.
Among other things, the state NAACP convention delegates could vote this weekend on resolutions supporting bills the organization’s members would like to see passed by Indiana or national lawmakers. The group will discuss a proposal to standardize questions involving past felony convictions on employment applications, Bolling said. It also will discuss potential hate or bias crime legislation, changes in the U.S. health care system and the use of “rapid response” to report police misconduct, she said.
Since the election of President Barack Obama, “we are seeing a resurgence of racial incidents,” Bolling said after arriving in Terre Haute on Thursday afternoon. As the volunteer civil rights organization marks its 100th anniversary this year, “the need for the NAACP continues,” she said.
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
