HOPE: Pursuing the Dream remembers Black History Month

By: Kevin Conley II

Staff Writer 

HOPE: Pursuing the Dream lecture aimed to share important and memorable historic quotes and poems related to Black History Month as well as teach individuals the purpose of Black History Month and the six pillars of the NAACP. 

The National Association with the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is an organization that brings together people who faced racial discrimination and have a goal to destroy racism It also aims to give people of mixed racese the right to have their own rights and their own freedom. 

HOPE: Pursuing the Dream gathers students and teachers to teach them about how important it is to learn about Black History Month and why it impacted people.

Mark Middleton, a student at Hudson Valley Community College, presented a poem about an overview of all the events in history that took place for a hundred years to teach people a short version of how African Americans affected history and how February became an important time for people to learn from them. 

“What I’m trying to do is start right at the very beginning,” said Middleton. “From the slave trade and take it all the way up to Martin Luther King, and kind of build quickly of an overview of everything that went on with some of the greatest people that were a part of our history,” he continued. “I try to get it all in for a few minutes.”

Mark presented his poem during the event to have people become educated in a short yet effective way. 

HOPE stands for Hope Opportunity Persistence Elevate, which means that all people should never give up and believe that no matter the struggles, the conflicts and the problems they face, people should understand that hope never dies, and that people should help each other and face those problems together. 

It’s also the NAACP’s first year co-sponsoring with Hudson Valley Community College and the Sisters of Mercy, a religious international community of Roman Catholic women who help people who suffer from poverty, sickness and a lack of education for women and children. 

The NAACP has six pillars that are also known as the objectives that the foundation are striving to achieve. 

The first was to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of all citizens. The second objective was to achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States. The third was to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes. 

The fourth was to seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state and local laws securing civil rights. The fifth was to inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination. 

Finally, the sixth is to educate individuals as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP’s Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution. 

Renée Powell, President of the NAACP, made a statement on the NAACP’s purpose that reflects to Black History Month by not only bringing African Americans into a community, but other followers as well, to give their community support to have mixed races.

“I’m happy that this is a diverse group because we can’t do this alone. It’s a partnership.” Powell said. “When the NAACP group was founded, it wasn’t just black people that found this group, it was a white social worker, a Jewish philanthroper and W.E.B Du Bois, who was a famous black author and advocate for the African American community,” she continued. “The key for success in achieving our goal of destroying racism is to include other groups and help them to understand what the struggle is.”