Young to keynote NAACP banquet

The Choctaw County NAACP will host the annual Freedom Fund Banquet October 10.

They invite everyone in welcoming and honoring Mayor James A. Young, Mayor of Philadelphia, as the Keynote Speaker for the evening.

"We looked for a keynote speaker that epitomizes our banquet theme this year 'Change'; We believe that we have found it in Mayor Young," said Choctaw County NAACP President Maria Macon.

In May, the 53-year-old Young was elected the mayor of Philadelphia, a town of about 8,000 in the east-central part of the state. Despite a 55 percent white majority, Young defeated Rayburn Waddell, a white, three-term incumbent, by the slim margin of 46 votes.

Young described the victory as "an atomic bomb of change." Another resident rejoiced, saying Young's win symbolized the scab finally falling off this town's wound.

"I couldn't even have wrote that in a fairy tale," Young said. "Who would have thought a little country boy like me would be mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi?"

Nothing about Young's childhood ever made him think he could be the mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town best known for the killings of three civil rights workers in 1964. Young still remembers the Ku Klux Klan tormenting his neighborhood. He can still see his father holding a gun on the living room couch ready to shoot anyone who threatened his family.

That's the way it was for black kids growing up in this crucible of racial hostility-big dreams were often squelched. Sitting on a sprawling Southern front porch during this interview by CNN the week of winning the election as Mayor, Young broke down in tears about what it means to be elected the town's first black mayor.

"When you've been treated the way we've been treated," he told CNN, choking up and then pausing to wipe the tears from his face. For a moment, he couldn't speak. He then regrouped, "That's why it's so overwhelming to be a part of this history."

Philadelphia was the site of one of the most notorious killings of the civil rights era. On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers - James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, both activists from New York - were shot to death at the edge of town. The killings inspired the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."

"Philadelphia will always be connected to what happened here in 1964," said Jim Prince, the publisher of the Neshoba Democrat newspaper.

"But the fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi, with its notorious past, could elect a black man as mayor, it might be time to quit picking on Philadelphia, Mississippi."

Young knows his slim margin of victory means he still has to earn the trust of many more voters in Philadelphia. He knows there are still some in town who won't vote for him because he's black, but he says that number gets smaller and smaller as time passes.

"We have some - a very small pocket - that will never change. That's what we've got to deal with," said Young.

The mayor-elect says his election symbolizes a dramatic shift away from his hometown's racist past.

"Attending the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet (Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.) will allow Choctaw County residents to have the opportunity to hear from this un-assuming and humble man, who is also the senior pastor of Calvary Church of God in Winston County," stated Macon.

Tickets to the banquet are currently on sale. The ticket Price will cover a youth reception to be held at Mt. Harmon United Methodist Church, a souvenir book with a message from former president Bill Clinton, the banquet with a full 3-course meal catered by JR Wilson Catering, the entertainment by Deja Vu, and the dance with music by Mighty J.

Tickets can be purchased from any NAACP Officer or Executive Committee member or by calling Linda Miller at 285-3871 or Maria Macon at 285-2999.