Taking a stand for the civil rights of all people

Speaker talks of need for better relationships among nations, races

MOSES LAKE — Civil rights leader and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Charles Steele Jr., spoke Saturday at the Moses Lake Convention Center before guests who were enthusiastic about the opportunity to have a national speaker in town.

Steele came as part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Alaska, Oregon and Washington state conference.

The NAACP was founded in 1909 to advocate for civil and human rights for all people in an effort to eliminate racial discrimination and hatred. The SCLC is a nonprofit that has been in existence since 1957 and was co-founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to fight for civil rights in the South.

During Steele's 30-minute speech, he touched on the state of the SCLC and other civil rights organizations, calling on blacks and whites alike to work together to eliminate racial discrimination.

Nan Davis of Moses Lake was one of those who came to take advantage of having such a prominent speaker come to rural Moses Lake.

It's not often that it happens, Davis said.

Before getting up to speak, Rev. Lovell Lavender, pastor of New Bride Missionary Baptist Church in Moses Lake and President of the Moses Lake NAACP planning committee, recognized Steele for his many accomplishments, including being one of Alabama's most successful businessmen, to being the first black person elected to the Tuscaloosa city council and to the Alabama state Senate.

Shortly after getting up to the podium to speak, Steele explained how he had made three trips to the Middle East in the last seven months where he visited with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In a region of the world where bitterness and hatred between the Israelis and Palestinians is ongoing, Steele recounted Sharon's plea for help from organizations like the SCLC that in recent months has constructed conflict resolution centers to help bring reconciliation to regions like the Middle East.

"'Charles, you can't leave us,'" Steele recalled Sharon saying to him during one visit. "'We went through the Holocaust,'" Sharon told Steele, "'but you went through the hellicost,'"he said of the discrimination blacks have faced throughout history.

Mustering all the emotional force he could, Steele stood at the podium with his arms raised and waiving, calling on all people and in specific blacks to not forget the events of the past and to continue working for civil rights and reconciliation among all races.

One of Steel's most emphasized points was not to let the SCLC or NAACP die.

"We got to have the NAACP, the SCLC, the Rev. Al Sharptons," Steele said. "This is the organization that gave you your freedom." Towards the end of his speech, Steele talked about the future of U.S. and international business relations and the need for the U.S. labor force to remain competitive in the labor market.

In the next few years, China and not the U.S. Ford company will be one of the leaders in automobile production, Steele gave as one example. "Life is built on relationship building and America is losing it."

Alice Currie of Tacoma who came Saturday to hear Steele, thought his presentation was inspirational and agreed communities need to work together not separately to build better relationships among the races.

Local Moses Lake resident Philomine Lund was touched by the support of people for each other and the effort made by Steele to visit a small town like Moses Lake.

"It's heartwarming to see their pride and sense of obligation to the future of our country," Lund said.