Protesters FIGHT North Carolina's Attempt At RE-SEGREGATING Public Schools!!

RALEIGH, N.C. – Protesters and police scuffled Tuesday at a school board meeting in North Carolina over claims that a new busing system would resegregate schools, roiling racial tensions reminiscent of the 1960s.

Nineteen people were arrested, including the head of state NAACP chapter who was banned from the meeting after a trespassing arrest at a June school board gathering.

"We know that our cause is right," the Rev. William Barber said shortly before police put plastic handcuffs on his wrists before the meeting started.

Inside, more than a dozen demonstrators disrupted the meeting by gathering around a podium, chanting and singing against the board's policies.

After several minutes, Raleigh police intervened and asked them to leave. When they refused, the officers grabbed arms and tried to arrest the protesters. One child was caught in the pushing and shoving, as was school board member Keith Sutton, who was nearly arrested before authorities realized who he was.

"Hey, hey, ho, ho, resegregation has got to go," some protesters chanted.

Sutton said he went into the crowd to try and calm things down and encourage officers not to use such strong force. He said he felt insulted that he almost got arrested and believes the officer who tried to detain him owes him an apology.

"I'm just real dismayed and disappointed," Sutton said.

The Wake County School Board has voted multiple times over the last several months to scrap the district's diversity policy, which distributed students based on socioeconomics and for years had been a model for other districts looking to balance diversity in schools. Several school board members elected last year have built a majority in favor of focusing on neighborhood schools.

The board's chairman, Ron Margiotta, said the panel would not be distracted in its effort to "provide choice and increased stability for families."

"This board does not intend to create high poverty or low-performing schools," he said to scoffs from the crowd.

At a morning rally that drew 1,000 people, speakers quoted Martin Luther King Jr., remembered the days of segregated water fountains and likened the current situation to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education battle. Barber talked about America's legacy of racial strife to galvanize the crowd.

"Too many prayers were prayed," Barber said. "Too many lives were sacrificed. Too much blood was shed. Too many tears were shed. We can't turn back now."

Barber's supporters believe the new policy will resegregate schools. They carried signs that read: "Segregate equals hate" and "History is not a mystery. Separate is always unequal."

George Ramsay, a white former student body president of Enloe High School, said it was necessary to keep the diversity policy in place to prepare students for an increasingly connected world.

"It is shortsighted to ignore the way students like me have been enriched by diversity," Ramsay said.

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Comment by jay on July 28, 2010 at 2:43am: what happens in the usa soon to spread throughout the world..this is just a small example of what is to come in the near future unless people become more informed about whats really goin on.

Comment by Ndija on July 27, 2010 at 11:54pm: Not at all surprising.

Comment by mr fix on July 27, 2010 at 9:39pm: IN FLORIDA AS WE SPEAK THEIR FIGHTING TO STOP TEACHING ABOUT SLAVERY IN SCHOOL, IN NEW YORK THEY WANT TO STOP SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION VOUCHERS (TRAIN & BUS PAST) NEW WORLD ORDER IS AT PLAY HAVING A BLACK PRESIDENT IS A TRICK WHO YOU GOING TO BLAME DON'T BE FOOLED THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF OUR PROBLEMS KEEP WATCHING KEEP LISTENING.

Comment by Hummingbird on July 27, 2010 at 2:34am: Amen Mikaeel Abdul Malik. I thought people in states have the right to protest (freedom of speech) but i guess it's not or they'll get arrested. Everything you do there, you get arrested, beaten up or sued. What the hell is with that??

Comment by Malcolm X on July 23, 2010 at 12:27pm: We also seem to forget all the Black owned business' that desegregation drove to bankruptcy. It was all a trick so certain people could get our money and keep us down. Jews were disproportionately marching for our civil rights. Now they get much of our money. But the black lawyers, doctors and bankers were forced to close their business' and go work for the man.

We want to integrate but when was the last time you did business with a Black owned bank.

Comment by Malcolm X on July 23, 2010 at 12:43am: The truth be told, when the schools were desegregated all the black teachers and principals lost their jobs. In other words the children lost Black role models. There's a reason Black colleges are so succesful. Blacks teach Black kids better.

Comment by VeryGoodD on July 22, 2010 at 8:41pm: It is a BIG SHAME that that champion of depression, regression, segregation, enemies of progress are at it again in the 21st century. This is a country that propound theories and want to prove to the whole world how progressive champions they are, but the right wingers kept destroying it. This country overwhelmingly selected and elected a very smart President to lead the country, but with all his successes to rebuild and foster US world leadership is being cut down by the negative and poisonous right wingers. What good is it going to do this country by going backwards? What will be the benefit of segregating kids that are supposed to the the leader of the future? What kind of legacy are these fools want to leave for the growing up kids that are supposed to be learning how to harmonize and make the changes that has been put into place all these 60+ years work? A SINGLE TREE CAN NEVER MAKE A FOREST. It takes a whole bunch of trees, shrubs and other vegetation to make a forest. White man cannot do it alone, Black man cannot do it alone, Hispanic people cannot do it alone, Asians cannot do it alone, the Caribbean people cannot do it alone and on and on; it take the unification and combined harmony to make everything work. A recent typical example is the success of the World Cup in South Africa putting together 32 countries because of harmony and planning. These North Carolina rebels need to realize that these periods are not the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.

Comment by King Simon on July 22, 2010 at 6:38pm: Study about Black Wall Street... We had better Schools, educational drive, our own businesses, gas stations, own land, etc.. when we was segregate... Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Said, "We have Integrated into Hell"

Comment by Alison Harris on July 22, 2010 at 5:15pm: is it really 2010????....the more things change, the more they stay the same......

Comment by Proudlady on July 22, 2010 at 4:11pm: The more we progress, is the more we regress. Where are the changes we need to really become free?