Social Justice and the Equality Prize

Minnie Pearson, president of the NAACP Champaign County Branch, and Thom Moore, a retired University of Illinois community psychologist and former member of the Y's board of governors. Pearson recounted growing up in Greenville, Mississippi, learning only later that her father's secret "necessary meeting" was the NAACP, and described the branch's committees, voter registration drives, Ten Shared Principles agreements with local police, and COVID-19 vaccine and food-insecurity outreach. Moore contrasted Dr. King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech with the 1967 "Other America" speech to argue that genuine equality remains unachieved. A long audience discussion followed on school discipline disparities, a pending teachers' strike and gun violence. Friday Forum and Conversation Cafe.