In a time where the future of this country is unknown, there is something to celebrate. In North Carolina, thousands of people have connected their personal lives to the disparity of others. There is a rising awareness that our lives are intrinsically connected to that of our neighbors, our friends, our families, and even people we disagree with. Never has there been in our recent history a more important time to be a North Carolinian. We face, together, trials and tribulations that will create for us a need to ask the question, “What can I do, what SHOULD I do to make this world I live in a more safe, healthy, and just community?” We feel the effects of poverty all around us. Our jobs have been lost, we are seeing people around us die and suffer from inadequate access to healthcare, education is being privatized and public funding put on a back burner to the whims of the wealthy few who would see to it that we are nothing but worker bees and cannon fodder for generations to come. Yet the time has come in North Carolina that the citizenry are no longer standing for this inequality and injustice.
You have the opportunity to stand with your neighbors and friends who have been silenced by private, well-funded agendas and skewed legislation alienating teachers, children, the elderly, women, college students, workers, the LGBTQ community, the unemployed, mentally ill and sick, ALL races, including black, latino, and white alike. On February 8th, on Jones Street in Raleigh, thousands will be speaking out against the extreme policies of our NC elected officials. Those same elected officials who put their hands on the Bible, swearing to uphold the Constitution of this state, to protect and serve the good of the People. They have passed laws that do the exact opposite, leaving hundreds of thousands of people out in the cold. This event is called “HK on J” which stands for Historic Thousands on Jones Street People’s Coalition.
Over 160 social justice organizations and over 125 chapters of the NAACP will gather in Raleigh to visibly challenge attacks on voting rights, economic equality, public education, and equal protection under the law. We will demonstrate our right to stand together in peaceful dissent, a right that our forefathers fought to protect, and our right to confront inequality, which is dividing our country when we need a more inclusive and loving community to survive.
This is expected to be one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the South since the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. You have the opportunity to make history in North Carolina. Join us at 9:30 am, On February 8, 2014, gather at Shaw University on South St. between Wilmington St. and Blount St. in downtown Raleigh. Or take a bus from Burlington!
The Alamance NAACP is sponsoring several buses to attend the 8th Moral March on Raleigh and HK on J People’s Assembly. The buses will leave Burlington at 8:00 am from the parking lot across from Sharpe Funeral Home (520 Rosenwald St.).
North Carolina is a battleground state and what happens here represents what is happening across our nation, and in your backyard. The Forward Together movement needs YOU, people of conscience and concern to rise up, speak out, and march on February 8th. For more info, go to http://www.hkonj.com/. Also to reserve a bus seat, please contact Noah Read, at 336-260-4399,or at attentionalamance@gmail.com.
– Anita Lorraine Kinney, of Graham
Organizer and Member of the Alamance NAACP
National Field Secretary for Democracy Matters
Alamance NAACP Blog 