news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The excitement brewing at Elm Street and February One Place before dawn Monday  couldn’t help but spill over into the Empire Ballroom, where N.C. A&T held its 50th anniversary sit-in breakfast.

But while accolades were heaped upon the Greensboro Four — “giants” and “drum majors for freedom and equality” were just a few of the words used to describe them — Bishop Cecil Bishop  reminded those in attendance that the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum didn’t bring the fight for justice to an end.

“There’s something about freedom,” Bishop told the packed ballroom. “It’s there, but unless you claim it, it will never be yours.” Bishop is a former pastor of Trinity AME Zion Church in Greensboro and former chairman of the Greensboro Human Relations Commission.

Members of the A&T community, alumni, and local, state and federal lawmakers, among others, gathered to honor Franklin McCain,  Joseph McNeil,  Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.)  and the late David Richmond.

The four men knew who they were and what belonged to them, Bishop said, when they reignited the civil rights movement by staging a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter, now home to the museum.

But the  speakers were clear: The struggle continues within the black community. They called on the crowd to imitate the Greensboro Four in writing another chapter of history.

“May we join that great procession that these, our sons and brothers, have charted for us,” Bishop said.

The Rev. William J. Barber II,  president of the N.C. NAACP State Conference of Branches  and the 2010 recipient of A&T’s Human Rights Medal,  said that although 50 years is a time for celebration, it’s also a time for recommitment.

The Greensboro Four took on an empire with love and truth rather than weapons, he said, but “today, the empire continues to strike back.”

Schools are being resegregated, and predatory lending is robbing communities, Barber said. More money is spent on prisons than on the state’s historically black colleges and universities, and double-digit unemployment has long plagued black families.

 McCain said that as things have changed for blacks, they also have stayed the same.

More blacks are in school, but more are also in prison, he said. More are working in the business world, yet fewer are CEOs. There’s more political awareness in the black community, but people are using less of their political power.

McCain told the crowd that he was concerned about their nightmares — the problems that keep them awake and cause them to resort to action.

“I also see that we have miles to go and promises to keep before we even think about sleeping,” he said.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 373-7080 or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com.