Had she lived, Fannie Lou (Townsend) Hamer would have celebrated her eighty-sixth (86^th) birthday this past October 6^th. Most are familiar with her famous statement, “ I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”, which she delivered at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Fannie Lou (Townsend) Hamer was the youngest of twenty (20) children born to Jim and Ella Townsend. Her formal education ended at the sixth (6) grade. There after she was designated to begin her predetermined work as a life long sharecropper.

At the age of forty-five (45), Fannie Lou attended a voter education/registration meeting hosted by the Student Nov-Violent Coordinating Committee and the NAACP. As a result, Fannie Lou evolved from a sharecropper to an activist for social, political and economic justice. She was out cast, vilified, fired from her job, and severely beaten with blackjacks because of her activism.

She was a founder and leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the all white Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Convention. She also was Field Secretary of the SNCC. She fought to open the political process to Blacks, women and poor people. In a nutshell, Fannie Lou Hamer fought against the “inside elitists”.

Spring forward to the present. Although we face different challenges than faced by Fannie Lou, some obstacles remain the same. In some sense, Black people are “political sharecroppers” even today. We are blamed when campaigns lose, but not given proper credit when they win. Others designate who our true leaders are, and predetermine what our position on various issues should be. When we turnout in great numbers, our votes are nullified, re-counted, re-districted or re-called, in the meantime, the band played on.

2004 is an important year for SEIU members, our International Convention, the Democratic National Convention, and the Presidential election, are all on the agenda. You must now begin your plans to become official convention delegates. Don’t be satisfied with tickets to all the parties, but no seat at the table. You must be an activist, be registered, and organize. In the spirit of Fannie Lou.