Source: Editorial Board
For fans of college football and supporters of voting rights, Rocky Mount was the place to be on Saturday, Sept. 21, as the city hosted the 27th annual Down East Viking Football Classic and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) events featuring Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King.
Saturday’s events were part of a three-day celebration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) held by Word Tabernacle Church. The events kicked off on Friday with an event called “A Celebration of Church, Community, Culture & Civics,” which included a gathering at the church that combined spirituality and civic duty.
“The Black vote east of I-95 is equal in size to the Black vote in Durham,” the Word Tabernacle’s senior pastor, James D. Gailliard — a former state legislator — told the crowd. “But it’s rarely resourced.”
Keynote speaker, the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, told the Rocky Mount Telegram that his message was about civic responsibility and activism.
“What is our responsibility as citizens?” Haynes said. “Not just to vote during campaigns, but also to be aware of agendas and to focus on what is in the heart of God, to be close to the heart of God and bring that to how we listen and engage with politicians.”
To ensure this important voting bloc has the impact they’re capable of on this fall’s election, information pamphlets about the upcoming elections were handed out before the gathering, and a voter registration booth was also set up.
The GOTV and voter education events kicked into high gear on Saturday with Martin Luther King III’s voter education event “Breakfast & Ballots” and Arndrea Waters King’s “Ladies Leadership Luncheon.”
The visit by the Kings held extra significance because it came just two days after the King family denounced Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and endorsed his opponent, Attorney General Josh Stein, in the gubernatorial race.
Martin Luther King III’s statement was released on social media:
“Mark Robinson is an extreme, out-of-touch threat to North Carolina’s democracy. The Tar Heel State needs a leader who will defend the sacred right to vote, someone who affirms bodily autonomy for women and respects the rule of law. Josh Stein is that leader.”
While at Breakfast & Ballots, King III was asked to respond to the CNN report on Robinson’s forum posts on a pornographic website, which included extremely offensive comments about Martin Luther King, Jr. In posts, Robinson also spoke approvingly of slavery and called himself a “black NAZI.”
“The rhetoric of Mark Robinson is beyond dangerous,” he said. “In fact, some of it seems to be a little bit insane. And it’s very difficult to understand how North Carolina allowed this kind of leadership to emerge because he is the Lt. Governor.”
Later in the day, Arndrea Waters King was the keynote speaker at LEAD NC’s luncheon on women’s leadership. In her address, King encouraged women in eastern North Carolina to not just vote but to get involved in the political process.
“The reason we are here is to get people involved in the democratic process,” she said. “We want to remind people about the importance of voting, that their voice matters. I am here to remind women of the interconnectedness of our stories, to look out for each other.”
King opened her address by addressing the rise in white supremacist beliefs becoming more mainstream and accepted in our society and also reminded the women of the threat that actions like book bans, abortion bans and gerrymandering pose to our state and country.
“We have a 16-year-old daughter, and she is the first in her generation since the Reconstruction era to have lost rights,” King said. “I want to remind women of their strength and the importance of voting in every election.”
Representatives from LEAD NC were on hand to provide resources for women interested in volunteering, activism or running for office.
Saturday’s celebration was capped off with college football as Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) and Fayetteville State University (FSU) faced off in the Down East Viking Football Classic. FSU won 31-7.
