“We are pleased to help host this event because a few weeks ago, after the Charleston Massacre, there was some discussion about moving the Confederate Monument from our town square, and that discussion was met with a rally, a protest the next weekend of people who were really busy spreading misinformation about what the Civil War was about and what the legacy of the Confederacy was. A group called “Take Alamance Back” led a protest, and I want to know where they want to take us back to? This is a movement and a time when we are coming together to move Alamance County and the state of North Carolina forward. We don’t want to go back to segregation and to all of the things that are part of that Confederate racist movement. We are also please to be here on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. This is a remarkable time because the Supreme Court has rolled back a significant part of the Voting Rights Act and our own legislature is involved in passing laws about voter suppression and that is basically the same “nullification and interposition” that Martin Luther King talked about in the Sixties. So thank you for coming here today. Thank you for your support as we move North Carolina forward.”
– Alamance NAACP President Barrett Brown
Alamance NAACP Joined Northern Orange NAACP, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP and NC NAACP to Demand Historical Accuracy on Thursday, August 6, 50th Anniversary of Voting Rights Act Signing
HILLSBOROUGH, NC – On Thursday, August 6, the Alamance NAACP joined the Northern Orange NAACP, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP and NC NAACP to hold a news conference demanding that UNC, the state of North Carolina and its counties, and other public institutions promote an accurate history of their ugly, racist policies and symbols of hatred.
This news conference came two weeks after Gov. McCrory signed into law the protection of Confederate monuments while neglecting to protect the people of North Carolina; and after weeks of refusal by the governor to ban license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag.
It came on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, which is among the most important pieces of civil rights legislation of the 20th century, and less than a week after the conclusion of the federal voting rights trial NC NAACP v. McCrory in Winston-Salem.
It also came three weeks after hundreds of people rallied at the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham, NC, to promote a misguided, revisionist interpretation of local history. This ignores the barbarity of slavery and its centrality to the Confederate cause, our community’s original overwhelming resistance to joining the Confederate cause, and the moral bravery and sacrifice of life of many local leaders, both black and white, in the fight against the institution of slavery and Confederate treason. It also ignores the reign of terror perpetrated by local leaders during Reconstruction, a 150 years of resistance to full civil rights for all members of our community, and the continued embrace of Confederate symbols by white supremacists.
For coverage by Durham Herald Sun follow this link: http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x110784596/Hillsborough-rally-protests-Confederate-symbols
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