Sampson County may soon be getting its own life-size replicas of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, thanks to Ron Lewis of Foundation Forward, a nonprofit organization that brings America’s most important documents to communities across the country.
Lewis shared a video presentation with county commissioners at their Nov. 3 meeting, illustrating what Foundation Forward calls the Charters of Freedom. The charters are encased in brick with glass tops, and are replicas of the nation’s founding documents.
“From the beginning, this has been an education project,” the video narrator stated. “Our hope is that our future leaders will come from communities where they have their own Charters of Freedom, that your children are no longer just talking about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of Washington. They’ll be talking about their United States Constitution, and their Bill of Rights.”
After the video, Lewis shared that he had previously been Onslow county manager, and had previously worked with Jeff Hudson, who served as Sampson County’s interim manager January through July of this year. “Let me say the first five years, I taught him traditional county management,” Lewis said. “And the second five years, he taught me innovative county management.”
Lewis said that Foundation Forward would gift the Charters of Freedom to Sampson County. “I drove in from the interstate today, and I passed beautiful cotton fields and what I thought were chicken houses, but after further investigation, they were hog houses, and it was just a beautiful drive from the interstate to your beautiful county. It’s a stunning county, and I haven’t seen cotton fields like that in 20 years. You live in a beautiful part of the state of North Carolina.”
Lewis explained that Foundation Forward does not use tax dollars, and previously used private funding to build the Charters of Freedom in other communities across the U.S. “I can’t say that anymore, because in the last session of the General Assembly, we were allocated half a million dollars,” he explained. “We are 20 down, and I have one more of those left out of the 20 that were allocated. And I’m earmarking that for Sampson County.”
Upon the commissioners approval, Lewis said that a letter of intent would be composed, and the foundation would handle most of the legwork.
He added that he made a similar presentation in Union County about two years ago. “There was a young African American sitting there where Mr. [Chip] Crumpler is sitting. And he said to me, he said, ‘Mr. Lewis, you did a great job on your presentation. But you haven’t done anything for me.’”
After that, he realized that documents needed to be added to the Charters of Freedom. “We now have a fifth pedestal in our display,” he stated. “And that fifth pedestal will contain the 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th and 24th amendments, which make us all the same, regardless of our gender or the color of our skin.”
Lewis related that when he returned to Union County with the addition of the civil rights amendments, that same man had tears running down his cheeks.
“Now, when we build the Charters of Freedom here in your county, we’ll have a big celebration,” Lewis said. “It’s a fun, fun day for us. And we will dedicate the Charters of Freedom to your beautiful county. We intend it to be given to all the citizens of the county, henceforth the reason we come to you, because you represent every citizen of Sampson County, and you’re the rightful recipients of the Charters of Freedom.”
Foundation Forward has built 60 Charters of Freedom in North Carolina, with more than 75 nationwide. “We’re as far north as Alaska, we’re as far west as California,” Lewis shared. “We’re talking to the mayor in the city of Honolulu to build one there. But my goal is to have one in all 100 counties in North Carolina.”
Lewis explained that a clean site will be needed, that’s 20 feet by 40 feet with nothing under the ground. “We will help you decide where to build it,” Lewis said, adding that courthouses are good sites, as well as veterans services buildings.
Commissioner Crumpler motioned that a committee headed by Commissioner Lethia Lee should work with Lewis to draft the letter of intent and for selecting the appropriate site.
For more information, visit www.chartersoffreedom.com/.