The weekend leading up to January 20, 2014 Alamance County celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with gusto. There was a breakfast, a brunch, a march evening services, youth services and in almost every corner of the county there was some kind of public display of general thanksgiving for the man, the movement and the dream. At every event that I attended there were hundreds of people who sat in the warm and easy comfort of churches, dining halls, and gymnasiums; everyone in abject admiration of King’s sacrifices.
There have been great advancements in the past 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement of Dr. King’s day. But there is a lot of work still to do. It’s important that we don’t let the Civil Rights Movement become a thing of the past, reduced to only observances and remembrances. The movement is still alive, still moving forward and still very necessary. Civil Rights are the rights that all citizens (not just Black People) living in a civil society have a right to expect. The NC Legislature has passed bills that would restrict the access of NC citizens to the ballot, defund public education to the point of risking resegregation. The governor refused to extend unemployment benefits and has refused to accept federal funding for Medicare recipients.
On February 8, 2014 Dr. William Barber, state president of the NAACP, along with a vast coalition of social and economic activist organizations has called patriotic citizens from all over the state to mobilize in Raleigh, for the Historic Thousands on Jones Street people’s assembly. This coalition means to take the case of the poor, repressed and marginalized people of this state directly to the halls of power. It is being billed as the largest Southern march since Selma. I’m just hoping that as many of the Alamance County residents who turned out to remember Dr. King and his dream will make every effort to turn out in Raleigh that day, to live his legacy and continue his work.
The Alamance County delegation will depart at 8:00am from 520 Rosenwald Street Burlington, NC (across the street from Sharpe Funeral Home) and will return by 2:00pm. For bus tickets contact Noah Read@ 336-260-4399 or attentionalamance@gmail.com .
Barrett Brown
Alamance NAACP Education Chair
Moral Monday Organizer
Alamance NAACP Blog 