Charlotte, August 12, 2011
For More Information: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Branch of the NAACP
704.372.7193 or naacp@charlottenaacp.com
Rev. Kojo Nantambu, President
704.641.7951 or kn_bro1@yahoo.com
URGENT NEWS ALERT
MARCH AGAINST ACADEMIC GENOCIDE
SATURDAY, August 13, 2011
9:00 a.m.
Marshall Park to Government Center
The NAACP and its Partners in the Local Peoples Assembly are "Marching Against Academic Genocide" this Saturday morning at 9 o'clock at Marshall Park. The words "Academic Genocide" were N.C. Superior Court Judge Howard Manning's powerful accusation about the relentless resegregation and ghettoization of Greater Charlotte's schools in the past dozen years. Judge Manning has been charged by the N.C. Supreme Court to enforce the requirement in the North Carolina Constitution that the State must provide every child with a sound basic education.
Local NAACP members and other people of conscience have watched in disgust and alarm, as Charlotte Mecklenburg school leaders have moved further away from the Global Communities of Inclusivity that their predecessors had tried to create to implement the U.S. Supreme Court's mandate to de-segregate in 1970. "It is a shame," one leader said, "that the only time we can come together as a community is when the Courts order us to."
But in the past several years, Charlotte Mecklenburg school leaders have restored segregated schools. They have packed high-poverty, low-income students and families into racially-identifiable schools that are clearly unconstitutional. Their policies cast out, cast down and cast away more students than they educate. The resegregated schools destroy the lives and spirits of teachers and other educators. They have turned our schools into a corporate assembly lines, rather than producing individual geniuses ready to make our increasingly diverse society a better place.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, NC NAACP President, who has helped lead the fight in Wake County against the same forces who have restored segregation here, commented: "The racial and class disparities created by Charlotte Mecklenburg's resegregated schools not only destroy many of our students; they also help destroy our minority neighborhoods. Earlier this year, Supt. Gorman announced he was closing 11 predominantly minority schools in District 2 and 3, under the pretext they were under-capacity and it would save money by shutting them down." If race were removed from the analysis, then the most logical thing to do would be to transport some suburban students from over-crowded schools to the under-used inner city schools. Make the inner city schools educational and community centers for diverse communities that could be developed around excellent inner city schools.
The Charlotte NAACP and its local partners in social justice and civil rights invites all parents, teachers, sororities, fraternities, churches and those who love justice and equality for our children, to join us Saturday, August 13, 2011. Put the national spotlight on Charlotte's resegregated system. The schools reflect the racism in our larger community.
Rev. Kojo Nantambu, President of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP Branch, said, "If Charlotte wants to change, if it really wants to show it is not racist; if it is really going to resist the steady slide back to a segregated city and segregated schools, the best place to start is with our schools. They are where our children learn to live, grow and work together -- to become patriotic, responsible adult citizens."
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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