In the late 1600s a few English property lawyers in the capital of the English Colony of Virginia made a deal with the devil.

They invented a brand new kind of property which they called chattel or "human" property. They put a law on the books saying any child born of an African woman in Virginia was a slave for life and all offsprings of this child were also slaves for life. If you are interested in this, read the UNC Press 1968 Book by Dr. Winthrop Jordan, "White over Black."

With a few strokes of a quill pen on some parchment, this self-perpetuating system of racialized slavery was quickly incorporated into society. Soon most Southern religious, educational and governmental institutions accepted this grievous sin against God's Human Family as if God herself created it. When the Virginia lawyers wrote these evil laws, it is said God and her angels weeped. They knew, given our human frailties, it would take centuries to expose and undo the breach in her beloved human family.

Chapel Hill is a company town run by an institution that for three-fourths of its 210 years was dedicated to rationalizing this evil system. It is therefore both difficult and essential to expose and undo this terrible breach here.

Those of us who believe in a God of Justice have learned the hard way that just teaching about the self-perpetuating nature of racism is not enough. My four friends we honor today were all teachers to be sure. But they knew they taught best by acting to dismantle the self-perpetuating system of racism.

In the 1930s and '40s, radical students and union organizers began supporting the indigenous Janitor's Association that pillars of the black community had started on their own.

They quickly formed a militant union, and Mrs. Rebecca Clark was the shop steward for the Laundry Workers, leading the fight for dignity and better pay. (If you are interested in this, you can read about the Janitor's Association and Ms. Clark's union leadership in Yonni Chapman's dissertation.)

When human beings of color wanted to attend Charlie Jones' Presbyterian Church (less than a block to the east from here), he did not think twice about welcoming them - even though the Presbyterian Powers that Be quickly expelled him from his church for it. Recognizing that Charlie needed a building to continue his social justice mission, Professor Dan Pollitt - a strong labor lawyer - helped organize a delegation of university teachers to persuade President William Friday that he should offer Gerrard Hall, next to South Building, for a new "Community Church" where God's Human Community could worship together.

Mrs. Clark's union was busted by anti-communist, anti-union, and racist attacks in the late 1940s and 1950's, sort of like the ultra-right attacks we are experiencing today. These attacks led to the passage of N.C.'s hated Jim Crow Law 95-98, that outlaws black and white public workers from collectively bargaining.

Yonni Chapman went to work at Memorial Hospital in the 1980s and got involved in the perpetual struggle of the university's low-paid manual workers for Dignity and Dollars. He quickly learned the 1980s struggle was a reincarnation of similar efforts by Mrs. Clark, her friend Mr. Kennon Cheek, and practically every other black person who lived within 50 miles of the university and the hospital. Mrs. Clark and other elders taught Yonni (and me) so much about struggle and grace. She taught us how the university, the hospital, and the town played the same tricks again and again against their black and other low-paid manual laborers. They would say, "There is no money in the budget for the lowest-grade employees." They set up phony "employee relations" offices and committees, to confuse people and keep them talking forever about anything except the two things workers need and want: RESPECT and MONEY.

Yonni, although suffering from a debilitating disease, set out on the daunting task of reading every document written about the university's treatment of local black people. His dissertation documents this treatment and the tricks designed to keep black and white workers from collectively bargaining for respect and better pay.

My summary is simple. These four pillars of the Human Community of Chapel Hill taught in the streets. Dan Pollitt taught in the streets and the courts. I thank him for his love and support to both myself and Ashley when we were struggling new lawyers. Charlie Jones taught more in one dangerous evening at the corner of Rosemary and Columbia where, without a second thought, he came to the rescue of the Freedom Riders who were being viciously attacked in downtown Chapel Hill in 1947. I thank Rev. Jones for reminding me that my Christian upbringing was not opposed to my anti-racism life. Rebecca Clark gave Yonni and me love and support, as we tried to figure out the zigs and zags of the university and its clone, the town, in the Keith Edwards, housekeepers, and black public works movements. Mrs. Clark reminded us the struggle is long, with many trials and snares. Yonni Chapman taught, not only with his brilliant research and thoughtful analysis, but with his steadfast friendship to those of us in the Breakfast Club and the NAACP.

My daughter Sunny, and her mother, Ashley Osment, are here with me in body and spirit.

They remind me that in Latin American, when movement fighters are honored, they call out their names and say, PRESENTE, which means They Are With Us. Please do that with me:

Yonni Chapman. PRESENTE.

Dan Pollitt. PRESENTE.

Charlie Jones, PRESENTE.

Rebecca Clark, PRESENTE.