RALEIGH — Many of us are not old enough to remember the days
of"Jim Crow" lawsthat allowed racial discrimination in the use
of public facilities. There are some, though, who will never
forget those days before theCivil Rights Act of 1964changed
everything. A few remember how the victory over segregation was
won and how the lessons learned then can help uslive the
legacytoday. Pastor William Finlator and Dr. Slater Newman saw
the injustice of racial segregation. Raymond Burnette and John
Winters were subject to it. The men are among the many who
joined the Civil Rights movement in the early 60s to tear down
barriers to racial equality that they saw every day on the
streets of Raleigh. "I remember seeing those "colored" signs not
only in front of toilets, but in front of drinking fountains,"
Finlator says. John Winters broke a few barriers himself, and
will never take his freedom for granted, though others may.
"They take freedom of access as just having been there and has
always been, but that isn't the truth,