NAACP Celebration Planned Sunday

Singing, speeches and a gospel hip-hop dance performance will highlight the San Fernando Valley branch of the NAACP’s Jubilee Day Celebration on Sunday.

NAACP branches nationwide annually commemorate President Lincoln’s issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation that took effect Jan. 1, 1863.

The Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, president of the NAACP’s Valley branch, said the celebration helps remind youth about the day “a major blow was struck against slavery.”

“Unless we stay vigilant, then those things we have gained, those victories we have won, can truly be taken away,” Broadous said.

Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills, who was in Miami during a Nov. 11 NAACP public hearing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson about presidential election irregularities, will be the featured speaker.

Maulana Karenga, who in 1966 created the Kwanzaa holiday, will also address the gathering.

About 15 boys and girls will perform a gospel hip-hop routine and the Jubilee Day Mass Choir, made up of singers from various local denominations, will sing under the leadership of the Rev. Arthur L. Broadous, Zedar’s brother.

The event is planned from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. Sunday at the New Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, 13333 Vaughn St., Pacoima.