White vows strong voice for West Virginia minorities

He served as the featured speaker during the Saturday Upper Ohio Valley NAACP Wheeling Branch Freedom Fund Banquet, an event featuring the theme: “Intensify the Struggle.”

“We have to get back out there and make sure our voices are being heard,” he said.

White praised efforts by West Virginia NAACP President Owens Brown to establish a “Citizens Police Review Board” in Wheeling. In August, Brown urged members of Wheeling City Council to consider an independent board to review the actions of police.

White acknowledged West Virginia has not experienced some of the problems seen throughout the nation during the last few years. Still, he said in the U.S., a black resident is three times more likely to die than a white person is as a result of a confrontation with police. In his view, some of these confrontations should never occur.

“Most of the people they stop, and some of the people who are killed, have not committed a crime,” White said.

“I am not against cops,” White said. “I don’t want the rogue cops out there killing our kids.”

White said there are two main ways for black residents to improve their status in West Virginia and the nation as a whole. One of these involves education, while the other calls for action.

“You’ve got to vote, folks,” he told the audience. “Your vote counts. People died for your right to vote.”

NAACP Wheeling President Darryl Clausell said the organization is working to achieve its goals in a peaceful manner, which he said is needed during these turbulent times.

“With everything going on in the world today, we need to bring people together,” he said.

Also Saturday, the family of the late Perry Galloway Jr. accepted the 2017 Freedom Fund Memorial Award on his behalf, while Darlene Stradwick received the 2017 Community Award.

Galloway, who died in 2015, was an strong advocate in his community and former president of the Ohio-Marshall County branch of the NAACP. He worked tirelessly to improve East Wheeling, serving as a civil rights leader, political activist, judicial reformer, co-founder of the Elks Basketball Tournament and the James H. Paige III Learning Center. He enjoyed mentoring dozens of young people over the years, was a coach for many youth sports and always said his most important role in life was that of father to his children.

Stradwick, the youngest of 16 children, has lived in Wheeling most of the her life. She graduated from Wheeling High School and attended West Liberty University. In 1987, she formed and was president of the East Wheeling Civics, a community activist group.

Stradwick worked in the dietary department at Ohio Valley Medical Center and taught nutrition and food preparation at the former James Paige Learning Center, as well as at the Laughlin Memorial Chapel.