Page 2 - Florida Sentinel 4-28-17

Feature
George Edgecomb Bar Assoc. Banquet Speaker Roland Martin Asks: ‘Are You Satisfied With The Way Things Are?’
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
“Are you satisfied with the way things are?”
That was the question renowned journalist and au- thor, Roland Martin posed to a room of hundreds gath- ered inside downtown Tampa’s Hilton Hotel at the George Edgecomb Bar Associ- ation’s 34th Annual Scholar- ship Banquet.
The host of TV One’s daily morning show NewsOne Now – and diehard lover of old school R&B music – jumped off his speech by playing a snippet of Frankie Beverly & Maze’s “Before I Let Go” and implored the audience to stand to its feet and dance.
But following a quick two- step, Martin wasted no time getting into his address with the warning, “I break all the rules.”
Answering his own ques- tion, Martin said he’s not at all satisfied.
“I want to be completely free,” he said. “I want to walk into any store and drive down any highway and not get pulled over because I’m Black.”
The banquet honors com- munity and legal leaders, as well as awards scholarships to local students. This year’s hon- orees were: retired aide to Cong. Kathy Castor and Community activist Chloe Coney, who received the Francisco Rodriguez Award
and the Delano S. Stewart Di- versity Award recipient, Michael Stephens, the Ex- ecutive Vice President and general counsel for the Hills- borough County Aviation Au- thority and Tampa International Airport.
Attorney Theda James,
longtime Assistant Public De- fender, also was recognized for her service and pending retire- ment.
All four – Coney, Stephens, James, and Mar- tin – received standing ova- tions and raucous rounds of applause.
But it was Martin who asked attendees the true rea- son why they were in the room.
The purpose should be the same as when a couple renews its vows: to remind them why they said ‘I do’ in the first place, he said.
“The event should serve as a renewal to one’s commit- ment to not just the law, but to social justice,” he said.
Today, Black children are behind their white counter- parts beginning in the womb and access to a good education still eludes Blacks.
Many are in denial about how these things came to be and forget that Blacks have been “free” only “technically for 47 years,” because of a sys- tem that has purposely denied rights to people of color, Mar- tin said.
“The problem that many of us have is that some of us be-
Guest speaker, Roland Martin, right, with the Matching Hillsborough Community College Scholar- ship Recipient, Obaahemaa Kusi-Appiah, Wharton High School.
Attorneys Travis (GEBA Treasurer) and Theresa Jean-Pierre Coy (GEBA President) with guest speaker Roland Martin.
Atty. Theda James, longtime Assis- Michael A. Stephens, right, Executive Vice President and tant Public Defender, received special General Counsel for the Hillsborough County Aviation Au- recognition for her service and pending thority and Tampa International Airport, shown with Atty.
retirement.
lieve that we are so well-read, with so many degrees that we’re walking around dumb as hell,” he said.
This generation requires a new kind of Freedom Fighters, including attorneys who “put their lives on the line for a more perfect union,” Martin said.
Martin implored audience members to commit to being
Stewart, received the Delano Stewart Diversity Award.
Freedom Fighters and re- turn next year with a list of so- cial justice accomplishments.
It takes just a handful of people to make a change, he said.
“The only people who can do it are the very folks sitting in this room,” he said. “The question is will you use your power or will you let it waste away?”
The George Edgecomb Bar Association 2016-2017 Schol- arship Recipients are: Four- Year University Pre-Paid
Scholarship Recipient, Ash- ley Foster, Chamberlain High School; $1,500 Cash Scholarship Recipient, Reyann Conwright Trot- man; Matching Hillsborough Community College Scholar- ship Recipients, Aya Bricha, C. Leon King High School and Obaahemaa Kusi-Appiah, Wharton High School; and George Edgecomb Bar Associ- ation Bar Prep Scholarship, Chantay Perry, Stetson Uni- versity College of Law. (Pho- tos by Julia Jackson)
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