Bishop Brian Thompson returned to Fayetteville on Monday with a reminder to follow the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s belief in speaking out for social justice for all.
A former pastor at Simon Temple AME Zion Church on Yadkin Road, Thompson had folks on their feet at the Fayetteville Cumberland County Ministerial Council’s 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Brunch, which drew about 1,500 people to the Crown Expo Center.
“He gave some interesting perspectives about having courage to stand up and speak on things even when it’s not comfortable,” Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin said. “His message was carrying on Dr. King’s dream on social justice.”
Kirk deViere, chairman of the Cumberland Board of County Commissioners, said Thompson’s message resonated with the audience.
The brunch theme was “Where Do We Go from Here?” in paying annual homage to the late Baptist preacher and civil rights leader from 1955 until his death on April 4, 1968, at the hands of an assassin in Memphis, Tennessee.
You might call it an appropriate title, when it comes to the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, the nonprofit which finds itself immersed in a quagmire of controversy after community leaders called out its chairman, Stanley Ford, for mismanagement and a fiscal malfeasance related to a $7.2 million spiral project at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park off Murchison Road.
The issue evolved on January 8, when an email post from Ford written by Charlisa Davis of the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee said the 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade, which was scheduled for January 17 downtown, had been postponed “due to safety issues.”
Just what were the safety concerns?
No one seemed to know.
Not city communications spokesman Loren Bymer. Not Maj. Shawn Strepay, who is chief of staff for the Fayetteville Police Department. Not even some members of the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, who later said they were “blindsided” by the parade postponement.
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, The Washington Post investigative reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal of 1972, which led to the resignation of a disgraced President Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974, couldn’t have solved this one.
Bernstein would have been chain-smoking and puffing away.
And Woodard could not have contained his calm journalistic demeanor, and likely bummed a cigarette or two from Bernstein, too.
Davis on January 14 clarified the safety issues as failure of the committee for verification of the parade date, time, and route; failure to obtain parade permits; parade liability waivers and insurance; approval of parade entries; a parade line-up of participants; recruitment of parade volunteers and training; parade parking availability; and properly functioning audio equipment, etc.
Resignation Effective November 12, 2025
It all has led to scrutiny of Ford and the committee by Fayetteville City Councilman D.J. Haire, who on January 9 joined with fellow Councilman Malik Davis and county commissioners Kirk deViere and Veronica Jones, with Haire issuing a stern warning to Ford for the Fayetteville-Cumberland Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee to provide financial accounting and documentation for the Martin Luther King Jr. Park project by February 2.
Other community members, including former state legislator Elmer Floyd, former committee member the Rev. Aaron Johnson and Charles Evans, a former city councilman and county commissioner, all interviewed by CityView reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader, also weighed in about Ford, with Evans saying Ford “needs to go.”
Penelope Lopez of ABC11 WTVD reported on January 16 that Ford resigned on January 15 and that the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade has been rescheduled for April 4, the date of the civil rights leader’s assassination.
Councilman D.J. Haire provided CityView with a copy of Ford’s resignation letter to the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, which states he resigned November 12, 2025.
“I have valued my time on the board and I am extremely proud of the accomplishments during my tenure,” Ford wrote, and also urged “no recourse or adverse actions” be taken against him or other board members to include Charlisa Davis. “Thanks for the opportunity to serve the mission and legacy of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.”
Kirk deViere, the county board chairman, says he and others only saw Ford’s resignation letter dated November 2, 2025, at the January 9th meeting called by Councilman Haire.
“That’s when everybody got the letter,” deViere said Monday.
Haire says he cannot speak to the date of Ford’s resignation letter, but in last week’s meeting said, “Ford was in attendance as the CEO Board Chair of the MLK Committee.”
DeViere affirms Ford represented himself as the board chair.
“It’s way confusing,” deViere said Monday.
Ford said Tuesday he did not represent himself as the board chair at the Zoom meeting.
“No, I didn’t introduce myself as board chairman,” he said. “But they kept directing everything toward me.”
Ford says Charlisa Davis now is the board chair, effective since his resignation letter, which he says was mailed to the committee board.
“I stayed on to help Mrs. Davis,” he said.
And, just for your consideration, here’s some more confusion.
The 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade has not been scheduled for April 4—not yet.
“At this time, I cannot confirm the rescheduled date for the parade,” Davis, who referred to herself as a committee member, said Monday. “The committee has a meeting scheduled for this week, after which we should be able to confirm those details and provide information regarding the candlelight service.”
Epilogue
Where does the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee go from here?
Apparently, it will be left to Charlisa Davis as chair of the committee.
Scuttlebutt has it that Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward may be considering another book—All the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee’s Men and Women—and what an embarrassing community debacle this is.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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