MLK rally discusses racial equality goals

Chapel Hill still has work to do to achieve racial equality.

This was the central message of Monday’s speakers at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Rally, March and Worship Service in downtown Chapel Hill.

“We are not only here to talk about the legacy of Martin Luther King, but to talk about how we can keep the dream alive,” said Michelle Cotton Laws, the president of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch, the organization that sponsored the event.

Some of the speakers, including local NAACP and University leaders, expressed their concern about local schools and Orange County neighborhoods becoming more economically homogenous and thus racially re-segregated.

“The gentrification of the area results in its re-segregation,” said Laws, who said she thinks that Chapel Hill and the University have the power to stop it by monitoring the development of the neighborhoods, but they don’t.

“The black middle class is shrinking. Black neighborhoods, like Northside, are disappearing and being taken over by developers,” she said.

“Because of the rising property taxes, people who work here cannot afford to live here anymore.”

A procession down Franklin Street started at Chapel Hill’s Peace and Justice Plaza and ended at the First Baptist Church of Chapel Hill. The church was packed with a racially diverse and enthusiastic crowd of about 300, applauding, laughing and singing.

“I am here because it is important that we remember individuals like Martin Luther King and his ideals of equality and peaceful protests,” said freshman Kane French.

Timothy Tyson, author of “Blood Done Sign My Name” and a Duke University research scholar, said the major issues facing racial equality in Chapel Hill are housing and education.

“The issue is to know whether or not poor people will still be able to live in Chapel Hill,” he said.

Tyson gave a presentation on the Civil Rights Movement and pointed out how it succeeded because of local activists.

“Martin Luther King came because there was already a movement. He was more like a gospel singer than an organizer,” he said.

As the event drew to a close, the audience began to sing the popular civil rights song, “We Shall Overcome.”

“We should not see the history of the Civil Rights Movement as a succession of dramatic events, but as a tireless and everyday movement and effort of local people,” Tyson said.

“It was all happening everywhere.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.