I gave Wake County school board Chairman Ron Margiotta the benefit of the doubt and hoped that he was not foreseeing the consequences of his push to resegregate our schools. I prayed that he was thinking only in terms of the shorter distances that some children would be traveling.
However, he laid all of his cards on the table when he called the state NAACP "irrelevant." When I read those words, I was infuriated and disheartened at the same time. Memories of Martin Luther King speaking from his heart in Memphis, the braveness of the Little Rock Nine raced through my mind. I am horrified that a public official would say something so malicious and ignorant without any concern for the people he is attempting to disenfranchise.
I am white. Imagine how black people, especially the older ones who lived through segregation, must feel. I was going to ask, but considering Margiotta is supposed to represent everyone in Wake County, I am demanding that he issue an immediate apology. Even if he does not respect the legacy of those who fought against injustice, and continue to do so, I do.
