Pilgrimage for Truth and Justice

DURHAM (WTVD) -- NAACP organizes walk through Durham to raise awareness.

The group is spearheading what it calls a Pilgrimage for Truth and Justice --a multiracial appeal to get out the vote in November.

NAACP members walk through Durham to the county courthouse in downtown. Their goal is to raise awareness of troubled times, involving the state's history of race relations.

"Our ancestors who were murdered, beaten, banished, and had their homes and businesses destroyed and stolen, just because they were black," NAACP member Fred Foster said when referring to the death of 14 people during a race riot in Wilmington. "A violent band of terrorists who called themselves the Red Shirts, on November 10, 1898, destroyed the black, white fusion government of the largest city in the state."

They say that's a story left out of standard history books.

After NAACP demonstration, members say they want meetings with key state leaders.

"So everybody knows what went on, and then we can talk about it, have dialogue, and come to the table with a resolution that everybody can believe in," Foster said.

The next stop for the group is a spiritual renewal service at the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of Roxboro and Main Streets. The public is invited to attend at 7 p.m. Sunday.

The NAACP's Pilgrimage for Justice started two days ago, with walks through Winston-Salem and Wilmington.

All the walkers will come together Thursday at the State NAACP Convention in Raleigh.

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