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State conference leader was keynote speaker during local Freedom Fund Banquet.

Jerome Whyatt Mondesire, president, Pa. State Conference of the NAACP, speaks at NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Banquet.

S. John Wilkin/The Times Leader

WILKES-BARRE – Some people may believe the civil rights movement is over. Jerome Whyatt “Jerry” Mondesire said it is not.

Not until everyone, regardless of race, has the same economical opportunities, said Mondesire, president of the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP. He called economic justice the final phase of the Civil Rights era.

Mondesire was the keynote speaker during the annual National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Wilkes-Barre chapter’s Freedom Fund Banquet Friday at Genetti’s Best Western Hotel and Conference Center on Market Street in Wilkes-Barre.

“What good does it do you to sit at the lunch counter if you don’t have money for a cup of coffee?” he said.

More minority business owners need to be awarded contracts for work from the local, state and federal governments, he pointed out. Currently only 2 percent of all Pennsylvania government contracts are awarded to minority-owned businesses, he said.

Under his leadership, the state NAACP is working to ensure minority-owned companies receive a fair shot at being awarded contracts to fix bridges, build roads, work on the Philadelphia International Airport’s $120 million expansion project or any other work awarded through a bid process.

“We don’t enjoy the progress of our labor. We are the only ethnic group in America that doesn’t employ the majority of its people. We don’t own no Laundromats, few stores in our neighborhoods, few drycleaners,” he said.

Mondesire is also president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and a member of the NAACP’s National Board of Directors.

Three awards including an inaugural award highlighting entrepreneurs were presented.

Beverly Collins received the inaugural Minority Business Person’s Award for her years of dedication to the community as a business owner and leader in the community.

Collins said she stays busy with various activities because that is how God made her.

“When I see people in need, I have to be there to help,” Collins said as she accepted the award.

Thelma Phoenix, Gladys Miller and Eunice Judge of Negro Women’s Community League received the NAACP Golden Heritage Award for their years of service to improve social justice in the African-American community. The League’s first major accomplishment was the integration of the lunch counter at Woolworth’s in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Candidate forum

The Wilkes-Barre Unit of the NAACP is hosting a Meet The Candidates Forum from 2:30-4:30 p.m. today in the Fellowship Hall of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 105 Hill St. in Wilkes-Barre