NASHVILLE — Walter Searcy received the Flame of Hope Distinguished Leader Award from Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) on June 4, 2026, at NOAH's 2026 Annual Fundraising Banquet held at the Boone Convention Center at Trevecca Nazarene University.

Searcy is a founding member of NOAH. He attended Fisk University as a student activist during the 1960s and 1970s, participating in protests after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1973, Searcy protested the fatal shooting of a Black man by a Nashville police officer. The officer was convicted of lesser charges and fined $10. Searcy advocated for police department changes for approximately 50 years.

Following the August 12, 2017, attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, Searcy publicly called for social reform. A vehicle was driven into protesters, killing one person and injuring 35. Searcy stated that the roots of the violence trace to the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a 2021 interview regarding the Andrew Delke case, Searcy stated that police officers are effectively permitted to impose the death penalty without a formal trial. He said individuals killed by police are denied the presumption of innocence. He also stated that the U.S. struggles to accept its history of slavery and Native American displacement.

Searcy noted that Black parents instruct children to avoid dangerous police interactions. He serves as a leader in the Nashville NAACP chapter and holds a one-year term with the Carnegie Society. He serves on the Metro Nashville Community Review Board and Mayor O'Connell's Choose How You Move Advisory Committee. Searcy is a steward at Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church and co-chairs NOAH's Economic, Equity, Jobs & Transportation Task Force.