Don't sell yourself short was the message from the pastor of a large Atlanta Baptist church who spoke to about 40 people Thursday at the NAACP's Tennessee State Conference and 64th annual convention.
"If you ever write yourself off, you are doomed to stay where you are," Dr. R.L. White, pastor of the 14,000-member Mount Ephraim Baptist Church, said.
IF YOU GOBrooks Sunkett, vice president of Communication Workers of America from Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker for the Labor and Industry Breakfast at 8 a.m. today at The Chattanoogan Hotel & Conference Center. For more information, call Valoria Armstrong at 432-9776.
White was a speaker at a luncheon that marked the start of the three-day conference. More than 150 people are expected to attend.
Criminal justice, health, economic and education disparities are the topics the civil rights organization plans to discuss, said Gloria J. Sweet-Love, president of the Tennessee State Conference.
"The topics are pertinent in our community," she said. "It's where our people are hurting."
The NAACP is still alive and relevent in the state and nationally, said Valoria Armstrong, local NAACP president.
"This conference is where we get our marching orders," she said.
Although people may feel as if they are a write-off and a reject, White encouraged them to not give up on themselves.
Blacks have been regarded as three-fifths of a person, cut out of the economic mainstream and marked as servants for life, he said. The only time they were regarded is when it came time to vote, he said.
He compared the story of black people struggling for equality to the children of Israel in the Bible. Because 10 spies lacked faith in themselves, more than a million people wandered in the desert for 40 years before arriving in the land that God had promised them when they could have arrived there in 40 days, White said.
"God can get you through any situation, but you've got to give him something to work with," White said. "You've got to give him some faith, and you've got to give him some time."
Other people can write you off, but with God all things are possible, he said.
Barbara Scott, of Memphis, the Tennessee State Conference membership committee chairwoman, was so moved by White's speech that she cried.
"This man made me ruin the makeup that I just bought," she said.
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.