The Krispy Kreme Challenge (K2C) wasn’t the only event making the world a better place this Saturday. While 8,000 participants in the annual fundraiser raced to raise $177,000 for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital, thousands also took to the streets for the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) march in downtown Raleigh.
The HKonJ People’s Assembly Coalition is made up of more than 125 North Carolina State Conference NAACP branches and chapters, and more than 140 other social justice organizations. Since its formation in 2006, it has run “successful voting, mobilization, legal and public awareness campaigns” regarding public education, voting rights, and economic and racial justice. Its annual mobilization is held on the second Saturday of each February, with thousands marching from Shaw University, through downtown, to the North Carolina General Assembly on Jones Street.
Unless and until humans discover a cure for illness, donating money to a children’s hospital will remain a noble act. But beyond the purely human problems we face, there exist injustices and inequalities for which long-term organization and dedication are necessary. While a single child may not be turned away from the Hospital because of K2C’s efforts, many deep-rooted issues of our society will remain. These issues will likely require efforts that fundraisers driven primarily by a desire to have fun and take part in a tradition will not solve.
It is Technician’s opinion that N.C. State students should realize the gravity of these issues. We should strive to cultivate a spirit of service that permeates into our day-to-day lives and inspires us to taking part in meaningful, sustained service.
One-off service occasions do good, but they cannot be enough in a world with as many wrongs as ours. That is where the value of HKonJ — both the organization and the march — emerges. The struggles for the rights of women, immigrants and GLBT individuals are necessary struggles, and though they cannot be solved by committing one Saturday morning, N.C. State students should embrace them.
As its website says, HKonJ is “a movement, not a moment!” — and it is movements, not moments, that are needed to solve the pressing problems of our society. While the K2C performs crucial service to our society, the many students who run in it shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that they have done their bit for society, or that transient moments of service will solve the world’s problems.
Rather, the K2C should inspire students to devote themselves to undertakings of a deeper and more persistent kind. A start would be marching in HKonJ next year.
