Thorpe ?lls void after activist father’s death

William Thorpe Jr. has spent his life watching other people act.

He’s seen his father, the late councilman Bill Thorpe Sr., serve on the Chapel Hill Town Council and direct efforts to rename Airport Road in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

He’s worked on political campaigns, figuring out how to best show another’s message.

But Thorpe now feels it’s time to share his own.

After his father, an activist who served several terms on the council, died last fall, Thorpe Jr. decided he could fill the void.

“My dad was a huge influence on what I did and how I thought,” Thorpe said. “I want to strive for a better world like he did.”

Thorpe is working on putting fruit kiosks in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools to promote healthy eating. He also named a town internship program after his father.

The only other time Thorpe remembers overcoming his quiet personality is his term as the first black student body president at Chapel Hill High School­, he said.

“My friends said I couldn’t do it,” he said, “I wanted to prove them wrong.”

During his tenure as class president, Thorpe focused on two issues: the lack of a black history class and the absence of black athletic coaches.

“The black community at that school needed to progress,” he said.

After high school, he left the spotlight and began what he calls his private phase.

“The past 20 years of my life have been about studying human society,” he said.

Thorpe graduated college with degree in sociology and now works as a political consultant.

Thorpe said he has become a representative of his father’s legacy.

“I see this as my public phase in life,” he said. “Before now I was learning, preparing myself for this time in private.”

Fred Battle, former president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is a longtime friend of the Thorpe family.

“I don’t know about his political ambitions,” Battle said. “But he is turning into a fine community activist.”

Thorpe’s father helped create a paid undergraduate internship program with the town. Last month, he worked to have the internship renamed in his father’s memory.

“I figured it would take a couple weeks or months,” he said. “But they unanimously decided to change the name that night.”

Thorpe’s current fruit kiosk program mirrors his father’s values.

“(My father) always tried to help young people,” he said.

Thorpe is planning the Inaugural Bill Thorpe Golf Classic fundraiser for Oct. 26 to help raise money for the fruit kiosks.

NAACP lawyer Alan McSurely has known Thorpe for 14 years.

“In time, William will surpass his father,” McSurely said. “He has all the tricks of the trade his daddy had and more.”


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