Thousands at annual NC rights march

Thousands gathered in downtown Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 14 for the annual “Historic Thousands on Jones Street” march. “HKonJ” is a coalition of over 100 civil rights, faith and labor groups fighting for legislative reform in North Carolina. North Carolina NAACP President William Barber III promised during his speech that if recent attacks by the state legislature against voting rights and Medicaid are not reversed by Easter, his organization would restart the Moral Monday civil disobedience actions that led to over 1,000 arrests over the past two years while fighting for justice.

After the march, youth gathered at Estey Hall at Shaw University, the birthplace of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, to hold the first BlackLivesMatter Youth Assembly. Youth and students from across North Carolina met to create a youth-centered agenda for action in the coming year.