Led by a banner proclaiming, "The Struggle Continues," about 100 area residents marched down Franklin Street on Monday holding colorful signs and singing songs to commemorate the civil rights movement's most revered leader.
Speakers during the morning service at First Baptist Church and the rally at the end of the march invoked the class equality and the anti-war spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.
"Don't just walk one day, but stand up against segregation and discrimination every day," said Steve England, a representative from the Black Public Works Association, on the steps of the Franklin Street post office.
The 31st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Service featured state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People representative Gladys Ashe Robinson, who spoke to the packed crowd inside the North Roberson Street church about closing the gap in education.
Robinson, the education committee chairwoman, said that while some steps have been made to curb racial differences in the United States, a major gap between minority and white students still exists in the school system.
Fred Battle, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, said the achievement gap is being overlooked as the nation's focus and funds move toward a pending war with Iraq.
"Just think of the money that could be better used in our schools," he said.
Other speakers and demonstrators also spoke against war, using some of King's later writings in which he denounced war as adversely targeting the nation's poor.
"War is the enemy of the poor," said participant Nancy Brown, reiterating King's mantra.
