HK on J Saturday in Raleigh

The second HK on J (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) rally and march from Chavis Park, southeast of downtown, to the Legislature in Raleigh is this Saturday.  I think the march is now planned to start at 12:30.  Below is some information from the coalition's website, www.hkonj.com.  Many organizations are supporting this effort for progress in NC, which was initiated in 2007 by the NAACP.     

 

You are encouraged to arrive at Chavis Park no earlier than 10:30 am on Saturday, February 9.  There is plenty of seating and standing room.   You will be outside, so dress for the weather.  The program begins at 11:30am.

 

Parking:  Cars may park along streets where parking is normally allowed.  Obey parking signs.  We encourage you to park in the City Decks 16, 68, and 34 as shown on the downtown map and on downtown streets, as allowed, and walk or take the tram to Chavis Park. Parking in these decks is free, though you still may have to take a ticket from the machine to enter the deck.   Handicapped parking will be available along Chavis Way south of Lenoir St. and on Holmes Street. 

 

After the program at Chavis Park, the march to the State Legislature Building will be led by members of the Coalition Partner organizations by walking onto Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.  The march is 1.5 miles.  The trams will make repeated loops to the Legislature Building until all special needs participants have been transported.  Please be patient and only take the tram if necessary.

 

After the program at the Legislature Building, the trams will make repeated loops back to the three parking decks and Chavis Park.  Again, the trams are for special needs participants.

 

This is a peaceful, non-violent march.  Organizational banners are encouraged.  No banners depicting vulgarities or obscenities will be allowed. 

THE PEOPLE'S AGENDA:
14 POINTS

1. All Children Need High Quality, Well Funded, Diverse Schools. NC must meet its Constitution's requirement of adequate and diverse schools by fully funding Leandro with transparent accountability and creating special leadership teams in its failing schools. (Video clip and detailed text)
2. Livable Wages and Support for Low Income People. NC ought to provide livable wages, make sure no person goes hungry and that everyone in need has affordable, accessible childcare. (Video clip and detailed text)
3. Health Care for All. NC ought to provide its people with health insurance and prescription drugs, while funding public health programs to treat social diseases that plague Black and poor communities including HIV/AIDS, diseases caused by environmental pollution and warming, drugs, domestic violence, mental illness, diabetes, and obesity. (Video clip and detailed text)
4. Redress Two Ugly Chapters in N. C.'s Racist History: The overthrow of the bi-racial 1898 Wilmington Government and the sterilization of poor, mainly Black, women from 1947-1977. NC must implement its 1898 Wilmington Riot Commission recommendations and pay damages to the poor women it forcibly sterilized. (detailed text)
5. Same Day Registration and Public Financing of Elections. (Video clip and detailed text)
6. Lift Every HBCU. NC must financially support our Historically Black Colleges and Universities to develop equitable infrastructure and programs with doctoral-level leadership for today's challenges. (Video clip and detailed text)
7. Document and Redress 200 years of State Discrimination in Hiring and Contracting.
   NC must commission historical documentation of its contracting practices with racial minorities to justify constitutional redress. (Video clip and detailed text)
8. Provide Affordable Housing and Stop Consumer Abuse. NC must provide an Affordable Housing Trust Fund for low-income renters, vouchers for wounded veterans who can not find accessible housing, meaningful tax breaks for seniors forced out of their homes, and protection against predatory lending and foreclosures. (Video clip and detailed text)
9. Abolish Racially Biased Death Penalty and Mandatory Sentencing Laws; Reform our Prisons. (Video clip and detailed text)
10. Put Young People to Work to Save the Environment and Fight for Environmental Justice.
    NC must establish an Environmental Job Corps for young people who did not graduate from high school to re-engage them in public service. NC must fight all forms of environmental injustice. (Video clip and detailed text)
11. Collective Bargaining for Public Employees and Support Smithfield Workers Right to Unionize. NC must support the right of Smithfield workers in Tar Heel to form a union and work in a safe environment, and support collective bargaining for public employees. (Video Clip and detailed text)
12. Protect the Rights of Immigrants from Latin America and other Nations. NC must provide immigrants with health care, education, workers rights and protection from discrimination. (Video clip and detailed text)
13. Organize, Strengthen and Provide Funding For Our Civil Rights Enforcement Agencies and Statutes Now. (Video clip and detailed text)
14. Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq Now. NC cannot address injustice at home while we wage an unjust war abroad. (Video clip and detailed text)

There will be local buses to the event from Durham and Chapel Hill:

 

The Durham buses will leave at 10 from the parking lot next to NCCU's Elder Student Union; reserve a seat by contacting theresaelamin at aol dot com, 824-0659, aclulegis at nc dot rr dot com, or 834-3466.

 

Buses will leave from University Mall in front of Dillards at 9:45; reserve a seat by contacting mthompson015 at nc dot rr dot com, 370-6114; there is a suggested donation of $10 dollars

 

The UNC Fair Vote bus will leave at 9:45 from Davis Library in front of the ATMs on Raleigh St.; reserve a seat by calling 413-1276