"Most Powerful Pages on The Planet"
April 14, 2009
Volume 2 - No. 12
Darwin Campbell, Executive Publisher
A Weekly Publication
NEW SCLC CHAPTER PROMISES
RENEWED FIGHT FOR JUSTICE, EQUALITY AND PROSPERITY
Civil Rights Group Sets Up Shop in Tarrant County
Darwin Campbell
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FORT WORTH- With the mission not accomplished on issues dealing with racism, poverty, violence, civil rights and justice issues in Tarrant County, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is organizing a new chapter in the county.
“Our Christian principles and the lack of justice for poor people in our community provide us with the determination and motivation we need to organize the SCLC here in Tarrant County,” said Rev. Kyev Tatum, who is leading efforts to bring the SCLC to the county. "With the SCLC, we have a golden opportunity to fulfill Dr. Martin Luther King's dream and to also help President Barack Obama renew America together."
The SCLC is the second major predominantly African-American national civil rights organization to set up shop in Tarrant County. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also has a chapter in the county.
Fort Worth and Tarrant County still has numerous problems balancing the scales of justice and promoting fairness and equality in employment and economic opportunities and gaps, lapses and discrepancies in its justice system when it comes to African-American criminal and civil cases.
Tatum and the group hopes to accelerate efforts to bring economic prosperity and justice to a community and neighborhoods that have been neglected and ignored for decades.
Founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in 1957, the SCLC focuses on eradicating racism, poverty, and violence.
A fourth generation Texan and native of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, Pastor Tatum is an ordained Baptist Minister, teacher and community advocate.
Selected the 2006 Servant of the People by the Fort Worth Weekly, Pastor Tatum is passionate about the Gospel Ministry.
A long time advocate for civil rights, school choice and economic development in historical disadvantaged and underserved communities, Tatum is on a mission to help save the next generation of children.
Tatum said some of our top priorities for the organization in Tarrant County are Education Reform, the Crime Control and Prevention District Reform, Infant Mortality, Mental Health, the Criminalization of Poverty, and the "tax attack" on some our small Black Churches, just to name a few.
“We already have membership commitments from grassroots leaders from Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield and Everman with more commitments to come,” he said. “Our goal is to work closely with other Civil Rights groups, especially LULAC.”
Tatum said the SCLC's mission and work in Fort Worth and Tarrant County would not conflict with any efforts currently being done by the NAACP.
“Some may ask the question, what is the difference between the NAACP and SCLC? The NAACP is respectfully the oldest Civil Rights organization in the country, however SCLC was founded on the Christian principles of Jesus and its founder's moral authority has been honored by this country with a national holiday and a memorial within the national mall in Washington DC,” he said. "While the NAACP has respectfully been the conscience of this country for over 100 years, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference continues to provide the Moral Authority needed when it comes to racism, poverty and violence in America.”
To join the SCLC as a charter member, a membership is only $25; For youth under 17 and senior citizens over 65 is only $10.
Charter memberships are due on or before April 15th.
“We encourage people of faith and good will from all social economic backgrounds and political affiliation to join in our efforts to empower the least, the last and the lost in our world to become real participants in this American experience,” he said. “We must move forward by faith on civil rights and encourage you to join us as we work together to improve our beloved community.”
For more information, call Tatum at (817) 966-7625 or mail it to SCLC Tarrant County - c/o Rev. Kyev Tatum, P.O. Box 60700 - Fort Worth, Texas 76115.
For more information on organizing a chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or to learn more about the SCLC visit the national website at www.sclcnational.org.
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