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BIO
The Rev. Curtis Everette. Gatewood
is Associate Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Oxford, NC.
However Rev. Gatewood
believes God has called upon him
to see “the world” as his
“church” and his “flock”
consists of all of the world’s
poor and oppressed people.
On
March 4, 2007, he founded SOLO,
which is the acronym for
“Saving Our Little Ones”.
Saving Our Little Ones is
a community-based ministry
established to apply a variety
of strategies focused on
“saving” children and youth
from the extremely violent,
racially and sexually degrading,
sexually explicit, “gangsta”
gang-glorifying,
prostitute-pimping, drug dealing
and drug consumption,
materialism, and other
criminally sinful behaviors
being promoted in much of the
music and videos being aimed
toward children today.
Rev.
Gatewood is currently serving
his first term as 2nd
Vice President for the
North Carolina
NAACP
State
Conference of Branches
where he was elected in a
three-way race for this position
during October 2005.
Minister Gatewood serves
as the “Historic
Thousands on
Jones St.
(HKonJ)”
Organizing/Mobilizing Chairman.
HKonJ is an NC NAACP
initiative whereby an estimated
4 to 5 thousand citizens,
consisting of NAACP units from
around the state and over 70
grassroots organizations were
organized and mobilized on
February 10, 2007 to become one
of the largest demonstrations
for justice in downtown
Raleigh
,
NC
.
NC NAACP President
Dr. William J. Barber, II
has vowed that HKonJ is here to
stay, while referring to it as
“a movement, not a moment.”
While serving as President
of the Durham Branch of the NAACP, from 1995 to 2003, Gatewood emerged
as one of
North Carolina
’s most visible activists.
For example, in 1995
Gatewood spear-headed the
“1,000 Men March Against
Violence and Self-Hatred”.
This demonstration which
was sponsored by the Establishment
for Economic Equality, a
grassroots organization founded
by Gatewood in 1992, has gone
down in history as one
of
Durham
’s largest marches consisting
of African American men.
Despite the fact snow and
ice were in the forecast on the
day of the march, at least 1,000
black men miraculously showed up
to march from
Durham
’s Court House to the
Few
Gardens
neighborhood, which was at the
time, one of
Durham
’s most violent and drug
infested “hoods”.
Two years earlier, Rev.
Gatewood, a Baptist Minister,
insisted upon preaching his
trial sermon there, rather than
inside the safe and traditional
confinements of the “Baptist
church”.
Also,
in 1995, Gatewood’s “Boycott
Santa’s Cost” called
upon African-Americans to stand
up and resist the “pressure to
overspend at Christmas time”
as Gatewood accused major
retailers and other
“commercialists” of
“hiding
behind their fictitious white
image of Santa Claus as the
giver, while in reality, these
retailers robbed
vulnerable people at Christmas
time, making the rich richer and
the poor poorer, the exact
opposite of what Christ would
do; the opposite of what the
true meaning of Christmas is”.
Gatewood’s
philosophy and campaign
generated criticisms from
national right-wing ultra
conservatives such as Rush
Limbaugh, while also
generating
expressions
of support from many throughout
the nation and around the
globe,
including calls of support from
Australia
,
Canada
, and
London
.
The campaign was featured
on major news networks such as
ABC World News Tonight, NBC
Nightly News, and CNN.
These
accomplishments, in conjunction
with the Durham Branch receiving
the NAACP Southeast Regional award for “Highest Membership Increase
Percentage in NC”,
Gatewood would be selected as
North Carolina
NAACP’s “President of the
Year”, as the Durham
Branch of the NAACP would be
simultaneously honored as NC
NAACP Branch of the Year during
his tenure as President.
Gatewood would also be
appointed to serve as Chairman
of the NC
NAACP Direct Action Committee
during this period (1996).
And after receiving
multiple bomb threats and
promises that “three local
churches would be burned”,
Gatewood was assigned by the NC
NAACP and North Carolina
Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., to
serve on a “Taskforce to
Prevent Church Burnings”.
In 2001, in the wake of
the 09/11/01 “terrorists
attacks”, Gatewood received
harsh criticism, threats and
even a public reprimand by the
National NAACP for being quick
(long before the National NAACP
leadership took an anti-war
position) to speak publicly against
President George W. Bush’s
plans for a “War on
Terrorism”. Nevertheless,
Gatewood’s unyielding
opposition to the war eventually
struck a cord in the larger
international community.
At the time Gatewood
first showed his public
disapproval of the war,
approximately 90 % of Americans
favored the war.
Today, as Gatewood
envisioned early on, the high
loss of life and high costs of
other resources, in conjunction
with the unclear reasons for
going to war have caused
majority of Americans and a
majority of people throughout
the world to finally disapprove
of the war in
Iraq
and now question the overall
“War on Terrorism”.
Gatewood’s
protests against unfairness in
public schools in Durham
continued for over a decade,
despite bitter editorials and
anonymous phone calls asking him
to stop the protests and cease
his public criticisms of then
Superintendent Ann Denlinger (a
white female who was supported
by a racially split 4 whites to
3 blacks school board).
Gatewood was arrested
twice and barred from attending
School Board Meetings in
Durham
,
NC
.
Even this did not stop
Gatewood from attending these
meetings and continuing the
protests.
Through appeals and other
legal victories, Gatewood’s
arrests and school-related
convictions/charges were
eventually reversed and found
“not guilty”.
The Durham Public Schools
Superintendent who served during
much of Gatewood’s decade of
protests resigned in 2005 and
was replaced by an
African-American male.
Rev. Gatewood, and
two other individuals who were
also arrested during these
protests, were
recognized
as “2005
News Makers of the Year”,
by The Triangle Tribune, a
newspaper which covers the
Durham
,
Raleigh
,
Chapel Hill
“triangle”.
Gatewood also volunteers
as a youth mentor for “Friends
of Youth” and for over a
decade, served as a preschool
operator.
The preschool also has a
youth-centered before and after
school component.
In other words, Rev.
Gatewood has not only long
protested a wide array of
systemic injustices, but has
simultaneously taken proactive
steps toward saving
children/youth.
Rev.
Gatewood’s youth involvement
includes an original
gospel/inspirational music
ministry, whereby he physically
shares the stage with his
teenage daughter to creatively
use the gospel to reach those
youth who are targeted by the
music industry’s gangster,
sexually explicit,
materialistic, profane, violent,
self-destructive, and sinful
messages.
The two are guest artists
on a CD recently released by
Daniel Gatewood and the New Hope
Mass Choir.
Gatewood and his daughter
are now in the process of
releasing their own CD.
The CD is being produced
by Daniel, Curtis’ youngest
sibling.
Rev.
Curtis E. Gatewood is the 12th
child (of 14 children) of The
Rev. Dr. Wade and Geneva
Gatewood, whom he refers to as
model parents. Curtis Gatewood
has been married 18 years to
Odessa Burnette Gatewood.
The marriage produced a
step-son: Anthony Hawkins, and a
talented daughter: Desmera
Curtise Gatewood.
Other
Affiliations/Honors:
-
Gamma
Beta Phi Collegiate Honor
Society Member
-
Attended
Livingstone College as
Business Administration Major
-
Graduated
with Honors from Durham
Technical Community College
with an Associate Degree in
Early Childhood Education
-
Certified
American Red Cross and
Hurricane Relief Volunteer
-
Senator
Jeanne H. Lucas “Courageous
Leadership, Bold Vision,
Steadfast Service, State-Wide
Honors” Award Recipient
-
North
Carolina NAACP President of
the Year Award 1996
-
Shaw
University NAACP Chapter
Leadership Award 2000
-
2003
The Nation of Islam, Community
Leadership Award,
Durham Mosque #
34
-
2005
News Maker of the Year Award,
The Triangle Tribune
-
Scotland
County Youth Council NAACP
Leadership Award 2005
-
Virginia
Beach NAACP Leadership Award
2006
-
City
of Durham, NC Proclamation
Honor Recipient
-
News
& Observer Tar Heel of the
Week Award Recipient
-
Durham
Business & Professional
Chain’s J.J. “Babe”
Henderson Award Recipient
-
ABC
11 Eyewitness News
Neighborhood Heroes Award
Nominee
-
Recipient
of other community awards and
honors
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