NAACP's Kweisi Mfume speaks October 7 at SU

SALISBURY, MD---Kweisi Mfume president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), speaks on Monday, October 7, at 7 p.m. in Holloway Hall Auditorium at Salisbury University. Mfume's topic is "Political Empowerment and the Civil Rights Agenda." The public is cordially invited.

"It has long been a wish of SU's student chapter of the NAACP to bring Kweisi Mfume to campus," said Vaughn White, advisor and director of SU's Office of Multiethnic Student Services. "With the co-operation of many sponsoring departments on campus, we're proud to have him here. We expect a great evening."

In 1996 Mfume gave up his seat in the United States Congress to assume the presidency of the NAACP after being unanimously elected by its board of directors. He had, for 10 years, represented Maryland's Seventh Congressional District.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Mfume became politically active as a freshman at Morgan State University where he served as editor of the school's newspaper and as head of the Black Student Union. He graduated magna cum laude.

In 1984, he earned a master's degree in liberal arts with a concentration in international studies from Johns Hopkins University.

As Mfume's community involvement grew, so did his popularity as an activist, organizer and radio commentator. He translated that approval into a grassroots election victory when he won a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1979 by a margin of just three votes. During the next seven years, Mfume led efforts to diversify city government, improve community safety, enhance minority business development and divest city funds from the apartheid government of South Africa. In 1986, he was decisively elected to the Congress.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Mfume consistently advocated landmark minority business and civil rights legislation. He successfully co-sponsored and helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act. He authorized the minority contracting and employment amendments to the Financial Institutions Reform and Recovery Act. He strengthened the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and amended the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to apply the act to U.S. citizens working for American-based companies abroad. He also sponsored legislative initiatives banning assault weapons and establishing stalking as a federal crime.

Mfume served two successful years as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and later served as the Caucus' chair of the Task Force to Preserve Affirmative Action. During his last term in Congress, he was appointed by the House Democratic Caucus as the vice chairman for communications.

Since assuming the position of president and CEO of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, Mfume has raised the standards and expectations of NAACP branches nationwide and has worked with the NAACP volunteers across the country to help usher in a whole new generation of civil rights advocacy. His five point action agenda which encompasses civil rights, political empowerment, educational excellence, economic development and youth outreach, has given the NAACP a clear and compelling blueprint for the 21st century.

Mfume's background in broadcasting includes 13 years in radio. For the last seven years, he has hosted the award- winning television show, The Bottom Line. He is the recipient of seven honorary doctoral degrees and hundreds of awards, proclamations and citations. His best-selling autobiography is titled No Free Ride.

His SU visit is sponsored by the University's Hargreaves Civic Engagement Fund, Union of African-American Students, the student chapter of the NAACP, the offices of Vice President of Student Affairs and Multiethnic Student Services, and the Fulton School of Liberal Arts.

Free tickets are available at the Guerrieri University Center Information Desk Monday, September 30-Wednesday, October 2, for SU or University of Maryland Eastern Shore students, faculty and staff. They may receive two free tickets with presentation of a University ID. Thursday, October 3- Monday, October 7, free tickets are available for the general public. The night of the lecture, ticket holders need to be seated by 6:45 p.m. At that time open seating becomes available to non-ticket holders on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information call 410-548-4503.