“Fight Forward!” UConn Professor Tells Windham/Willimantic NAACP 
NAACP Presents Scholarship to Eastern Student

By Dwight Bachman

Psychology Professor Carlita Cotton delivered the keynote address at the NAACP’s Annual Freedom Fund event.

On June 4, the Windham/Willimantic Branch of the NAACP, the fastest growing chapter in Connecticut, heard UConn Psychology Dr. Professor Carlita Cotton encouraged a packed house on the lake at the Lakeview Restaurant in Coventry to grapple with the NAACP’s theme of “fighting forward,” the theme of the organization’s Annual Fundraiser Luncheon. 

The vision of the Windham/Willimantic NAACP is a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.” One audience member said “She (Cotton” really made some beautiful waves on the lake today!” Indeed she did. 

Cotton cited numerous incidents of historical racial hate dating back to the Revolutionary War before she discussed present day rhetoric of “white replacement.” She cited her parents getting arrested for sitting in a Whites only train station waiting room, being arrested and having to file, fight in court and win a class action lawsuit against the state of Alabama. Also, the 1963 bombing of the 16th street Baptist church; African Americans given a verbal and written exams before they could be registered to vote; being call a “nigger” on the first day of her class for integrating a school in Birmingham; siting in the back of buses; and having to suffer the indignity of squatting behind a tree in the park to relieve herself. 

“You see, if one could even find facilities for “colored folks” in Birmingham, you’d rather dig a hole than use those facilities. 

Cotton said fighting forward back then was done through legislation, advocacy, having sit-ins, non-violent protests, voter registrations, tutoring/reading lessons, committing to giving bus boycott rides, showing up in courtrooms in solidarity, having one’s property destroyed and even having relatives get lynched, joining ranks with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and fellow Freedom Riders and our other non-Black allies for support and strength in numbers.

She argued that today the rhetoric of “white replacement” fueled the 2015 murder of 9 church members at Emanuel AME Church South Carolina; the 2017 alt-right rally in Charlottesville, VA; the slaughter of 13 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; the mass killing of 23 people, most of whom were Hispanic, at a Walmart store in El Paso, TX in 2019; the Tops Friendly Markets supermarket mass shooting in Buffalo; and the 101 hate crimes reported in 2020 in Connecticut. Sixty-one (61) of those crimes targeted an individual’s race, ethnicity or ancestry.

 “I think we need to pause for a second and acknowledge that,” said Cotton. “What we’re really talking about is fighting forward when our hearts are heavy with grief and we’re desperately trying to hold it all together while trauma-fatigue wears us down.”

Cotton said the rise in hate crimes, coupled with housing, health and food insecurities, employment inequities and disproportionate minority convictions and confinement COMPEL the NAACP to action in 2022. She said fighting forward is a must “because we haven’t overcome yet; because we do not all have equal opportunity to achieve economic success; because racism is a health crisis, because there are disparities in the quality of care received; and because it’s not evident that all lives matter.”

She said quitting is NOT an option. “Don’t give up, shut up, or let up– until you have stayed up, marched up, voted up, lifted up, advocated up, maybe even prayed up, and definitely worked up for the cause of political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all persons.” 

“For as Benjamin Mays admonished us: ‘The tragedy of life is not found in failure, but complacency. Not in you doing too much but doing too little. Not in you living above your means, but below your capacity. It’s not failure, but aiming too low, that is life’s greatest tragedy.’ So, keep fighting forward, my friends – keep fighting forward.” 

During the celebration, the NAACP chapter presented Adalyse Gonzales ’22 a scholarship for her academic and athletic achievements. The award took place during the NAACP’s Annual Freedom Fund event. Gonzales maintains a 3.4 GPA, is a member of the National Honors Society and is ranked 12th in her class. Gonzales is also a four-year member of Eastern’s Women’s Basketball Team, where she been part of two championship teams. She was selected as an all-league performer 3 times. Gonzales will attend the University of St. Joseph’s in the fall to study exercise science, while continuing her basketball career.

Other scholarship winners included James Smith, a fashion design major at Lasell University, where he carries a 3.5 GPA; Mia Ray, a University of Connecticut (UConn) student majoring in Psychology; and Naliyah Santiago, a student at Shaw University, majoring in Sociology.

Other award winners included Celia Proctor and Claudia Allen (President’s Award); Rodney Alexander (Jackie Owens Above and Beyond Award); Donna Defresene (Humanitarian Award); Brianna Anderson (Black Excellence Award); Christine Pattee (Gary Ralls Fight the Power Award); and Brenda Buchbinder (Coach Corey Baker Community Service Award).

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