Due to a reporting error, Tuesday's pg. 1 story, Ongoing battle"" incorrectly states where the annual Martin Luther King Jr. day march ended. It ended at First Baptist Church. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Following in the footsteps of decades past"" a chorus of voices on Franklin Street rang in unity early Monday morning.
""I ain't gonna let nobody turn me around" gonna keep on walking keep on talking marching up to freedom land" they sung.
Decades after the Civil Rights Movement, many in the Rogers Road community said they are still fighting a battle for social equality.
Hundreds gathered at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally and march to commemorate the leader's life.
This rally is so important because you must have a vision" and this visionary gave me a vision" said the Rev. Robert Campbell, who was the keynote speaker at the event.
Campbell helped lead the protest against building a waste transfer station on the site of the current landfill in the Rogers Road community, one of the few remaining black neighborhoods in Orange County.
County officials decided in March 2007 to put the transfer station at that site, but eventually eliminated the site following protest and accusations of environmental racism.
We're not just talking about environmental pollution" but social pollution Campbell said.
Campbell said he has been involved in demonstrations and rallies since the 1960s but has concentrated his activism in the Rogers Road community since returning from the military in 1973.
Bishop Ila D. McMillan said the Rogers Road community still has inadequate services.
I'm hoping for justice in the city and there is no justice here" McMillan said. We were promised something we never got.""
The neighborhood is divided between Chapel Hill" Carrboro and unincorporated Orange County so several government bodies share responsibility.
McMillan and Campbell described several essential improvements including greater public transportation access better sewage systems and safe water.
A task force in November of 2007 presented 24 recommendations for the neighborhood" but few have been implemented.
""We want changes that can come to the community"" Campbell said. And we want to be a part of that political change.""
Campbell's speech stressed the importance of unity in overcoming environmental and social injustices.
""Environmental racism has no boundaries" Campbell said. It's not about color" but it is about power in unity.
""We have seen the movement of the vision and of change.""
Other political and social activist groups spoke at the event of many current inequities in the area.
Members of the UNC and the Chapel Hill-Carborro National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapters"" Orange County Human Rights and Relations and the Chapel Hill Town Council all emphasized King's vision for equality and continued efforts for change.
""It's going to take the small groups to come together to make a big group that stands for change"" said Bettye Jenkins of Bettye Jenkins Ministries.
The group ended the rally with the annual march down Franklin Street to St. Joseph CME Church, singing the same hymns protesters sung five decades ago.
This movement has history and purpose"" Jenkins said. And we want that same history and purpose to continue.""
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
