Page 9 - Florida Sentinel 2-5-19

Feature
Andrew Gillum Continues To Captivate His Audience, This Time At Hillsborough County NAACP Gala
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
It’s been a little over two months since Andrew Gillum’s historical bid to be Florida’s first Black gover- nor ended, but the former Tallahassee mayor still was in campaign mode on Friday night – at least oratorically – as he delivered an enthusiastic keynote address at the annual Free- dom Forum Dinner hosted by the NAACP’s Hillsborough County branch.
Gillum held sway over the audi- ence of several hundred at the Hilton Downtown Tampa as he talked about Black History Month, the importance of the 110-year-old civil rights organ- ization, and reflected on his race as the Democratic nominee for the gov- ernor’s seat.
“This is a county that has been good to me,” said Gillum, who won Hillsborough County by more than 45,000 votes over his Republican op- ponent. “I just want to say...I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for giv- ing me a shot when others closed the door.”
Gillum lost the November elec- tion to former Florida congressman Ron DeSantis by a little over 33,000 votes.
The Florida A&M University grad- uate was candid about his feelings in the wake of the race, saying that he still has “some pain” and prays to re- lieve himself of doubts. He said he’s drawn strength from the “heroes and sheroes” who are revered every Feb-
Keynote Speaker Andrew Gillum, right, posed with Computer Mentors Founder, Ralph Smith. (Photograph by Julia Jackson)
eral election including 8.5 million people casting votes, Democrats flip- ping two Senate and seven House seats, and the passing of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians with felony convic- tions.
“We did that together,” Gillum said.
He reminded the crowd that “the pace of progress can sometimes be slow” and that it requires people to be “fully committed to that path.”
After all, that is the story of the Civil Rights Movement, he said.
“What makes me any different?,” he said. “We made steps forward and then we made steps backward.”
Now is the time, Gillum said, for everyone to “choose to divide or we can choose to bring together.”
“The culprit of bad behavior isn’t just in Washington, D. C.,” he said. As we celebrate the contributions of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Thurgood Marshall, and other prominent Blacks, we should also think about the contributions we will make,” Gillum said.
“We all have that in us,” he said. “You are enough. You have everything you need. You don’t need a title to do it.
“There is opportunity for everyone to improve the outlook of society – we just have to be intentional about doing it,” Gillum said.
“It’s my job to tell you it’s not just about you, it’s about us,” he said. “In the words of my grandmother: Hills- borough County, let’s bring it home.”
ruary like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Recent actions show Gillum moving on from the defeat. Last month, he was named a resident fel- low at Harvard University and hired at CNN as a political commentator.
But he faces a new controversy after the Florida Commission on Ethics unanimously agreed last month that there was probable cause that Gillum violated ethics laws. A public hearing will take place in the coming months. Gillum did not ad-
dress the matter in his speech. Gillum said his activism and community organizing – including forming and participating in student protests against the One Florida Ini- tiative, which prohibits affirmative action in the university admissions
process – is rooted in the NAACP.
“I know what it means to be a member of the biggest, baddest, fiercest civil rights organization in the
land, the NAACP,” he said.
He ticked off a number of other
“victories” that transpired in the gen-
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