During my 16 years as a journalist, I’ve attended a few NAACP functions. The one I’d never gotten the chance to attend — simply due to scheduling conflicts — was a NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet. I finally got the chance last Saturday and I’m glad I did.

It’s one thing to know the bare facts of the civil rights struggle. I’ve read, of course, of the national civil rights movement, as well as the history here in Farmville and Prince Edward County.

It’s another thing, however, to experience prejudice in any form.

I am a middle-class white man in his 50s … and lived in places where I was the minority. I am also the adoptive father of two sons. One is African-American, the other, possibly, at least part African-American. I’ve experienced some mild prejudice; my sons, luckily, have not to the degree I thought they might. Or, at least, they haven’t told me so.

Even with them as my sons, I will never experience what it is like to be an African-American man in this country. I know this and yet can sympathize with and, therefore, support the community’s efforts to reach Martin Luther King’s dream of being a country where, truly, everyone is treated equally.

So, going to last Saturday’s Prince Edward County banquet was very interesting, to say the least. I heard wonderful stories about or from the honorees — Farmville Vice Mayor Chuckie Reid, Town Manager Gerald Spates, WFLO’s Francis Wood and retired educators Shirby Scott-Brown and Dr. Odessa Pride. I also heard reminders of the past struggles, the ongoing inequities and a call to action to make the future brighter.

I hope I can convey all this to my sons so they can learn and be inspired to help us all reach that better tomorrow.

Martin L. Cahn is the managing editor of The Farmville Herald. His email address is martin.cahn@farmvilleherald.com.