Facing challenges caused by the pandemic, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP used a motorcade to celebrate the annual HKonJ rally in the local area.

The Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People’s Assembly Coalition is made up of the more than 125 NAACP branches, youth councils, and college chapters in North Carolina, as well as members of over 200 other social justice organizations. Residents used the rally to to push for causes ranging from racial equity and justice to equal healthcare.

Diane Robertson, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP Political Action Committee co-chair, said it was important for the organization to have a presence during the pandemic.

“We wanted to make sure that our partners and allies across the state knew that even though there was a pandemic, the issues that we care about have not gone into lockdown,” Robertson said. “So we organized, across the state, virtual motorcades under the theme of, ‘We are done dying, burying oppression and lifting up hope.'”

Saturday saw a similar motorcades held in Raleigh and elsewhere across the state, as hundreds of residents turned out to push for racial justice. The motorcade from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP traveled down Franklin Street and passed by Carrboro Town Hall.

Robertson said that although the HKonJ rally is held in February during Black History Month, it is important to recognize Black history as American history.

“It really is important that we start thinking about the stories that are related during Black History Month as part of our entire history,” she said. “There is no U.S. history or American history without the story of the enslaved people that were brought here.”



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