MLK rally in Chapel Hill seeks fired workers' reinstatement

CHAPEL HILL -- Participants in Chapel Hill-Carrboro's Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally Monday called for the reinstatement of two fired town workers and the renewal of the fight against racism and injustice in both towns.

Leaders with the National Association of Colored People called for the reinstatement of Clyde Clark and Kerry Bigelow, former solid waste workers for Chapel Hill. The pair were fired in October after an investigation found they frightened residents on their route. Workers rights groups have said the town was retaliating against the men for speaking out about job conditions and organizing their co-workers. The town denied the pair's appeal for reinstatement in December.

"Dr. King, as you know, died fighting for the rights of the workers. [Martin Luther King Jr. Day] reminds us of his unfinished business; it just gives us more fuel and energy," said Michelle Laws, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP.

About 250 people attended a rally and march through Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill, followed by a service at First Baptist Church with remarks from Benjamin Chavis, president of Hip Hop Summit Action Network, past executive director of the NAACP and a native of Oxford, N.C.

"North Carolina should be an example not just of a new South, but how we work together," he said. "We talk about Dr. King's dream, but the dream had an agenda. This is a planning day, this is a workshop day."