The International Civil Rights Center and Museum Gala in downtown Greensboro is the museum’s biggest fundraiser each year, and, this year, it will take place on Saturday, July 20 – and the Museum leaders have a lot planned for the evening.
For one thing, educator, theologian, civil rights leader and syndicated columnist Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. – who is, by the way, credited with coining the term “environmental racism” – will be the 2024 recipient of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum’s highest award: The Alston/Jones Award, named for the Museum’s two founders, Skip Alston and Earl Jones.
This award, which is a “formal recognition honoring significant contributors to the advancement of civil rights,” will be given to Chavis at the Museum’s annual Gala on July 20.
Chavis (pictured above) replaces the originally announced recipient, US Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who has expressed his regrets at being unable to attend the Gala “in view of recent developments in the State of Maryland and the attention due from a member of Congress in response to the current electoral situation.”
The Rhino Times is not exactly sure what that means; however, whatever the case, Mfume can’t make it to the Gala.
Each year, the large fund-raising Gala celebrates the racial integration of the F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter in the summer of 1960 when four NC A&T students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter and refused to leave.
The fundraising Gala will be held at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center this year.
The evening event will follow a series of activities throughout the day, including opportunities at the Civil Rights Museum for members of the press to interview the multiple award recipients at the F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter before they leave at 4:45 p.m. to greet guests at a 5 p.m. VIP reception.
This reception, which is by invitation only, will take place at the Koury Convention Center and be followed by the main program at 6 p.m.
The evening will conclude with a dance with music provided by a prominent DJ at the Four Seasons Club. Admission to the dance is included with the cost of dinner tickets.
Chavis has taken a role at Duke University as the 2024 Environmental Justice and Racial Equity Fellow. According to the University, the purpose of that position is to connect “the fellow’s contributions in teaching, research, and service with Duke’s larger strategic goals” related to climate change and racial equity – to which Chavis has devoted much of his career.
This includes his service as former director and CEO of the NAACP. As the founder of the National African American Leadership Summit, in 1995 he served as the national director and organizer of the “Million Man March” in Washington, DC.
In addition to Dr. Chavis, the museum will hand out awards to William Bell, former mayor of the City of Durham, and Heather Booth, an activist and strategist focused on racial and women’s equality.
Dorothy “Dot” Kendall Kearns, the first woman member and chair of the Guilford County Board of Supervisors, will also be honored for her long-standing service to the community, and Guilford County Commissioner Frankie Jones Jr. – “a civically involved financial legal specialist” – will also be honored.
Another award will be given to Yvonne Lyons Cooper-Revell – a Bennett College participant during the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins at the Greensboro Woolworth’s.
Citizens and Taxpayers please enjoy this as your tax money has been wastefully spent by Skip Alston and his band of racial antagonists for decades!
Just say you’re racist and move on.
I think it’s wonderful we’re still technology these achievements because we still have a ways to go.
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Lol, calling a fundraiser a tax money waste is comical….it is the exact opposite…It is raising private funds.
Yes, the museum is still dependent on tax dollars (to a shock of no one). But to refer to ‘…this as your tax money…” is comical given the article is about a fundraiser. Not to mention the reference to civil rights activists (heroes to many) as ‘racial antagonists’ shows your bias for the White Nationalist propaganda that civil rights actions are racists actions against whites.
Are you one of those that wants to believe minority communities are no longer impacted by the history of AND current racism in the United States? If so, I suggest you are part of the problem Jim. Maybe you should spend more time at the museum. That is what it is there for. A reminder of the amazing violence, abuse of power, and outright hatred the black community has had to face and its impacts that remain today.
But you be you.
Yes! Your hard earned tax $$$ at work!
My question is how many of the street people will be allowed in.
My money is on 0.
But hey, I’m just one of the taxpayers referenced above.
We get that conservatives hate the homeless and those in government that work to help them using tax dollars. But making your case by suggesting that those that do have compassion for the homeless invite them to a fundraiser for a civil rights museum? That is just childish at a minimum or hints as deeper bigoted issues in your character.
But you be you.
Thank you for your professional analysis Dr. Freud. Where would we be without your insightful, non-prejudicial input. Truly you are a wise man
“Food and dancing”. Any ideas on who is paying for that?
Good point Forester, remember all the black non-profits that received skips reparations well there you go. That’s my bet
Ultimately the people attending via their donations. That is how fundraisers work.
Simple fact is, this “fundraiser” could not have ever occurred if not for the countless millions of tax dollars that have been sunk into this boondoggle.
Wonder if an ID will be required to enter the function.
Like you Joelfarm, I’m not sure what joy was saying
I’m sure a MAGA hat or shirt will get us in.