Tuesday, March 09, 2010

NAACP Calls for Segregationist Board Chair of Wake County to Step Down

From WRAL:

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, joined the state chapter on Tuesday in calling for the resignation of Wake County School Board Chairman Ron Margiotta after comments he made during a heated public hearing on March 2.

Margiotta could be heard saying, “Here come the animals out of their cages," during the meeting on the school system’s long-standing policy of assigning students to ensure schools had no more than 40 percent of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches.. . .

And for a well-written and emotional account of that Board Meeting, go to IndyWeek.com. Here's the opening:

5 MAR 2010 • by Chase Foster and Louisa Warren

Katja Mulligan walked briskly to the podium. She had been waiting for seven hours and it was finally her turn to speak. She began, but then her face flashed with anger as she observed the nine individuals in front of her. "You aren't looking at me?" she exclaimed. "Please give me respect, and listen!" Her desperation encapsulated the feelings of so many others there that night who also felt unheard.

Matt Duvall approached the microphone next. He was disheveled, tired, and he spoke directly and confidently, looking his interlocutors straight in the eyes. His children's elementary school was now set to double its poverty rate from 42 percent to 85 percent and he was furious. "You just changed my neighborhood school, A LOT," he bellowed sarcastically. "Thank you very much!" His anger and disgust indicative of the tenor of the evening. . . .


No comments:

Post a Comment