The Halifax County Black Caucus had originally called off the march, citing allegations that city and state officials delayed the permitting for the event that was to remember the April 4, 1968 murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and point out Roanoke Rapids school boundary lines that disallow some children to attend the city school system.

The Reverend C.E. McCollum, chair of the caucus, said, however, he intended to walk even if it meant walking by himself. “Some of the others wouldn't let me do that.”

About 28 people marched from Tractor Supply to the Martin Luther King Park off Virginia Avenue in what city police Chief Thomas Hathaway said was a peaceful walk with no disruptions or no injuries.

“We didn't interfere with traffic. No cars were blocked,” McCollum said at the park, where a rally was scheduled to get under way with King's statue in the background.

The minister said beyond honoring King's legacy, the walk and rally was a way to call attention to stand your ground laws and the school boundary issue.

“The community needs prayer more than ever,” he said. “I want us to look at the stand your ground laws and martyrs like Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Emmett Till.”

On one side of the park, he said, residents enjoy the amenities provided by the city, while on the other side they don't. “The county schools get federal money that's designated to feed kids. I think people in the community need to join with us in fairness. Why can't we get together and do what's right? It's all about fairness. It's better to have one school system than three.”

McCollum said the caucus is working behind the scenes and outright to change the boundaries, talking to state legislators and working to get pro-merger candidates in office on the county level in next month's primary. “You have to appeal to folks who have a conscience and get to the good people in the county. You've got to see how those on the other side are hurting.”

David Harvey, president of the county chapter of the NAACP, said the change will come from, “trying to elect the right people.”

For the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he said that means getting James Pierce back in office on the county level, as well as challenger O.D. Sykes. “We're going to keep working,” he said. “If we don't win at the county level, we'll try to get the support of our state representatives.”