Weekly Briefing

Ten reasons to attend the fourth annual "HK on J" event

This coming Saturday morning, thousands of North Carolinians will gather in Raleigh for the fourth annual HK on J march and rally. Here's how the organizers describe what this event is all about:

"Three years ago this week, a diverse and extraordinary collection of thousands of North Carolinians gathered in Raleigh for what the group called a "People's Assembly." The Assembly took place on Jones Street, in front of the State Legislative Building, where our elected representatives craft state laws and choose how to spend our tax dollars.

The new movement that was launched that day ("HK on J" for "Historic Thousands on Jones Street") was and is the first modern coalition of its kind - a movement organized by the state's 100 NAACP Branches and featuring for the first time since the 1960's, a broad Black, White and Brown progressive agenda supported by over 88 state and local organizations, with more than one-million members.

Now, the HK on J People's Assembly gathers each February on the Saturday nearest the NAACP's anniversary and Abraham Lincoln's birthday to witness the miracle of God's diverse human race, to feel the warmth and strength of thousands of our friends and allies gathered together in a common purpose, and to push forward the People's Agenda for poor and working people across the State.

This year's event will be especially uplifting, with celebrations of important victories and the unveiling of new plans to bring home more progressive change this coming spring and summer - both through direct advocacy on Jones Street and the work of local People's Assemblies across the state."

In other words, HK on J is North Carolina's most visible and important public event dedicated to progressive policy change - the place where the state's often fractious and too-frequently-divided progressive movement can come together to march under one common, reform banner.

And if this fact alone is not enough to assure your attendance this weekend, here are ten more reasons to devote a couple of hours to the cause this Saturday:

#10 - To respond to the assorted "Tea Party" nuts - We all know that this noisy and misguided group represents much of the worst in modern America and receives more coverage and attention than it deserves. What better way to demonstrate to the world what truly patriotic political activism looks like?

#9 - To connect to (and carry on) the 20th Century civil rights movement - This year's HK on J event will start at Shaw University on the south side of downtown Raleigh. The Shaw campus, of course, was the birthplace of one of the stalwart organizations of the American civil rights movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC. This connection is especially appropriate in 2010 because it marks the 50^th anniversary of both SNCC and the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins.

#8 - To stand up for health care reform - Despite the bizarre case of inside-the-beltway myopia that seems to have afflicted large segments of official Washington, one quirky special election in Massachusetts has not altered the underlying facts that a) Americans desperately want and need health care reform, and b) elected officials are in the position to deliver it. Come to Raleigh and help convey this message once and for all.

#7 - To show that most Americans are not anti-immigrant haters - The United States is a nation of immigrants. Immigration is in many ways the bedrock of our republic. Unfortunately, one need not look too far beneath the surface to see the kind of grip that fear, intolerance and even hate, have on those who want to halt progress in its tracks. Courageous people of all races and ethnicities owe to our future to speak up for comprehensive immigration reform.

#6 - To learn more in a few hours than you might normally absorb in as many weeks. Though HK on J is first and foremost about speaking out, it is also about education. For progressive North Carolinians looking for a "hands on" crash course in what's really at-issue in the 2010 policy debates, there is no better place to hear from a large collection of passionate and informed speakers or collect large quantities of insightful, to-the-point literature and talking points.

#5 - To feel like you're truly a part of something big and good - Face it, in our busy, computerized, cell "phone-ized" society, how many opportunities does the average North Carolinian really get to walk down the middle of the street, arm in arm, with an incredibly diverse crowd of thousands of people (rich and poor, young and old, Black, Brown and White) for the purpose of building a better world. There's almost guaranteed to be a moment that sends chills down your spine. Speaking of which…

#4 - To hear the President of the North Carolina NAACP, the Rev. William Barber II, speak - Right now, there simply is no other public figure in the state of North Carolina with the passion, presence or oratory skills of the NAACP's dynamic president. If you have a caring bone in your body, it's impossible to hear Barber address a crowd on the issues of the day in his inimitable style and not to feel inspired and more determined to keep fighting for what's right.

#3 - To demand better and fairer economic policies - Last year's federal recovery legislation has made an important impact in blunting the worst effects of the Great Recession. Unfortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel remains a long way off. North Carolina's unemployment and poverty rates remain at unacceptable levels even as bailouts and giveaways to large, profitable corporations continue unabated. Come and show your support for aggressive, intentional solutions that put the creation of jobs and the strengthening of the social safety net ahead of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

#2 - To say "no" to the re-segregation of North Carolina's public schools - If there's a candidate for "most disturbing public policy trend in North Carolina" in recent years, it's been the steady, drip-by-drip abandonment of socioeconomic diversity in the state's public schools. Most recently, the battle over this issue has been joined in Wake County, where a small faction of reactionaries has captured control of the local school board and sought to undo several decades of progress. Participants in this year's HK on J event will be delivering a simple and straightforward message in response: "Well never go back!"

And #1 - To help celebrate past successes and to recommit oneself to a progressive agenda for change - Last year, despite a record $4.6 billion budget hole, state leaders made some progress on the H K on J 14-point agenda - including the passage of the Racial Justice Act, modest advances on compensation for forced sterilization victims, expansion of Children's Health Insurance, and real progress on a number of important housing and consumer protection laws. Most of the agenda, however, remains a work in progress.

Come to Raleigh this Saturday to help make sure that next year's march in February of 2011 has a shorter agenda to champion.

For more information about the event, including logistics, click here.

See ya' Saturday!

 Email This Post  Print This Post

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Weekly Briefing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.