ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
On Election Day, attorney Derrick Humphries plans to join hundreds of thousands of black professionals in a celebration of freedom: boycotting work to take at least 10 voters to the polls.
He and the others across America hope this grass-roots, voter-action campaign - which started with one man and is separate from any political party or civil rights group - could help reinvigorate the black electorate, which has recently been turned off more than other groups.
And it also could expand community activism among the black middle-class often criticized for distancing itself from black communities.
The idea, called ``National Day of Freedom,'' was recently endorsed by a coalition of 14 groups representing a total of 1.5 million members - including doctors, lawyers, nurses, psychologists and firefighters.
``This is no protest. This is to strengthen America,'' said Humphries, 49, national director of the coalition, the Black Congress on Health, Law and Economics. ``We are just living up to the American vision of democracy: that each person has the responsibility to go out and participate fully.''
It began with Adam Shakoor, a Detroit lawyer and retired judge concerned about low voter turnout in the country in general, and among blacks in particular. Nearly half the country's voting age population doesn't even bother to vote.
Voting rights have been ``too hard fought, with too much blood, too many tears,'' said Shakoor, 47. ``Why not a day to celebrate all the freedoms we have enjoyed?''
``The potential is there to have a significant impact - if the members actually work at the local levels,'' said Ron Brown, a political scientist at Wayne State University in Detroit. ``But it is a plus that African-American professional groups have decided to get more involved.''
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB