Rather fight than switch
Swann plaintiffs appeal Potter's unitary ruling; School board to follow suit
by John Minter, THE CHARLOTTE POST
Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school desegregation battle is going back to court. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and attorneys for the original
Swann plaintiffs will appeal U.S. District Judge Robert Potter's declaration of a unitary district to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board Chairman Arthur Griffin, board member Vilma Leake and NAACP national board member
Lenny Springs show their approval at a rally Sunday for desegregated schools. The rally was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Charlotte.
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Attorney James Ferguson plans to file the Swann plaintiffs' appeal today and scheduled a press conference at
3:30 p.m. The school board, which lost the lawsuit brought by white parents to ban the use
of race-based policies, voted to appeal Wednesday. The vote was not unanimous on the four
separate issues on which the board decided to appeal. Nor was it unanimous on a separate motion to ask Potter and an appeals court, if necessary, to stay his order until the board can create a
race-neutral pupil assignment plan.
Votes broke down along a political divide pitting neighborhood schools advocates John Lassiter, Jim Puckett and Lindalyn Kakadelis against remaining board members, including
four African Americans. The neighborhood schools advocates, who testified against the district in the lawsuit, lost each vote, most 6-3, though Louise Wood joined them in voting
against an appeal based on Potter's declaration that the school system is now unitary.
The board voted to appeal on four issues unitary status, Potter's injunction against the use of race, his attack on magnet school seat set-asides and payment of the plaintiffs legal fees. The school board action comes after Mecklenburg commissioners failed to act on a request
for $240 million to rebuild and renovate inner city schools to accommodate more than 7,000 black students who previously were bused to suburban schools if Potter's order stands.
 The school board vote came after members gave brief speeches before a
packed board room mostly African Americans.
The quotes from black history, including the civil rights movement, flowed through the crowded room. Outside the Education Center downtown dozens more watched the morning meeting on a television monitor set up for just
them. A sign on an elevator said the board meeting room upstairs on the fourth floor was full and no
one else could be admitted.
The crowd at Wednesday's meeting was a continuation of a rally Sunday night at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sugar Creek Road. That inter-denominational event had featured speaker
after speaker calling for an appeal of Potter's Sept. 10 ruling.
The tone of those speeches recalled the civil rights movement and cries of "We won't go back," was common.
When Vilma Leake got a chance to speak, she made it clear she was speaking from a historical perspective. She recalled walking to school while white students rode by on buses.
She noted that no one complained about how much it cost to fight U.S. District Judge James McMillan's 1969 landmark ruling ordering busing for integration. "I'm ready to march again," said Leake, in one of the day's most passionate orations. Leake recalled the closing of all-black Second Ward High School, once located across the
street from the Education Center, and attempts to close the lone once-all-black high school, West Charlotte.
"Are we returning to the old South or the divided South?" Leake asked.
Near the end of her speech, Leake turned to Puckett and said, "I love you as a person, but I have a problem with your position."
Board Chair Arthur Griffin, an African American seeking re-election in November, had to caution the audience against loud outbursts and chided Leake for making her remarks personal. Referring to the cost of the lawsuit, as much as $3.1 million, she noted that no one had
complained about cost in 1954 and 1969, when the all-white school boards were fighting integration.
"All of a sudden it is a problem when it comes to defending our children," Leake said.
Black board members George Dunlap and Wilhelmenia Rembert, gave equally determined speeches in favor of fighting Potter's ruling. Dunlap noted in his speech that some board
members had joined in a victory party once the verdict was announced.
Puckett had to abstain from the vote on whether to appeal the judge's order that the school board pay legal fees for the white plaintiffs. Puckett said he would get some of the money,
which would be paid to those who contributed to fund created to sue the school system.
Lassiter also abstained, saying he "had a business arrangement" that caused a conflict.
Neighborhood schools advocates said the school system had to move forward and that they were also interested in the education of black children. They said the board should focus on
creating a new pupil assignment system and not further court action.
Lassiter called the court case a "distraction," and Kakadelis said she could not vote to spend more more on lawyers while teachers were lacking classroom supplies. Lassiter noted that he and Griffin once lived in the same neighborhood off Carmel Road and
that 30 years ago when McMillan issued his order, there were no blacks on the school board.
Leake, in rebuttal, countered that the four blacks on the board had to fight to get there and that the neighborhood schools advocates are fighting to get them off. Griffin said that diversity was important to avoid situations like Bosnia and Kosovo, where
American troops had to police divided populations by religious and ethical differences.
"We know what separate but equal has done in the past," Griffin said. "We have been there and don't want to go back."
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