Hilary O. Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau, speaks Saturday, Sept. 2, at the Mar-Saline Branch's annual Freedom Fund Banquet. Shelton urged the audience to remain focused on the organizations values of justice and freedom when voting in the November election and not be distracted by emotional issues that are not central to that mission. [Click to enlarge]

Hilary O. Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau, urged voters to focus on the core values of the organization when they go to the polls in November and to be wary of attempts by politicians to use fear and hot-button issues to distract and intimidate.

Shelton spoke Saturday, Sept. 2, at the annual Freedom Fund Banquet sponsored by the Mar-Saline Branch of the NAACP. The theme of the event was "Value our vote, and vote our values."

He reminded the audience that the organization has a long history of fighting for justice, to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless and heal the sick."

Mel Smith, who served as toastmaster of the Mar-Saline Branch of the NAACP annual banquet Saturday, Sept. 2, talks with Marshall Councilwoman Lorna Alexander and branch President Clyde Williams prior to the banquet. [Click to enlarge]

But the current government is doing a poor job of fulfilling those values, he said, pointing to its response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina a year ago as an example.

"Thousands of Americans were left to fend for themselves," he said. "We know our country has the capacity to help. But we realized that as our focus was on the Gulf of Mexico (the government's) focus was on another gulf. They were in the wrong gulf."

To discover the government's real values, he suggested that voters look at the administration's proposed budgets, which call for cuts to social programs that help the disadvantaged while continuing to cut taxes. The tax cuts, he said, mainly benefit the top 1 percent of society.

"You can talk all kinds of stuff but until you put money for it you haven't said anything," Shelton said.

He cautioned the audience to beware of political manipulation, noting that in the previous election hot-button issues -- especially gay marriage and abortion rights -- were used by politicians to distract voters from issues they should have paid more attention to.

"We were hoodwinked. Intimidation and fear were used to distract us," he said.

The one move by Congress that Shelton cheered was the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, which he said the NAACP began lobbying for almost a decade ago.

But he had less regard for Missouri's recently enacted Voter ID law, which will require all voters to present a picture identification card when the vote.

"It's awful. It's outrageous" he said. "It's another tactic to keep the poor, minorities and elderly" from voting.

He noted that a similar law had been overturned by courts in Georgia.

Contact Eric Crump at

marshallfaith@socket.net