Sixteen to be honored at NAACP banquet

Local residents have only a few more days to purchase tickets to honor 16 high school seniors, each of whom is slated to receive the annual NAACP scholarships, Friday night at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center.

The identities of the seniors is being withheld until Friday night’s ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Jerome Boykin, president of the Terrebonne Parish chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said this is the 24th Annual NAACP banquet held in Houma.

The banquet’s theme is “Valuing Our Votes, Voting Our Values,” a reflection on the struggle to secure voting rights in the context of the modern electorate, of which 70 percent or 80 percent stay home on Election Day, Boykin said.

Comedian and political activist Dick Gregory will be the guest speaker for the evening event. According to the banquet officials, Gregory’s platform has not yet been decided.

The keynote speaker front-lined Civil Right Era during the ‘60s; today he continues to be a “drum major for justice and equality.” The Missouri native may not know what he wants to speak on, but judging from his past history, event-goers will be in for a treat.

Ready for graduation, the highly anxious 16 students from each of Terrebonne’s four public high schools and Vandebilt Catholic High School will receive $1,000 scholarships.

Youth NAACP Director Diana Collins said the students plan to attend colleges across the state, including Nicholls State University, Xavier University and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. One student plans to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta; another is headed to Mississippi State University.

Collins said not many teens from this area want to go to segregated schools like Morehouse, but this particular student does. “We took the students to a field trip at Morehouse and the students fell in love with the school,” she said, noting that she did not want to name the student until after Friday’s event. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but this young, intelligent student is well desiring of his academic accomplishments. All of the seniors being honored are.”

Along with Boykin and Gregory, several other Terrebonne Parish public officials will speak at the event, including Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter and NAACP state President Kwame Asanté.

The Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center offered 1,000 tickets to the banquet, and Boykin said more than 900 had already been sold the week before the banquet.

Tickets cost $50 per person, most of which Boykin said goes to cover the scholarships and banquet expenses. Outback Steakhouse will provide all the food, he said.

For more ticket information, call (985) 850-4657.