Charlotte NAACP President Kojo Nantambu, angry over a decision to keep schools open on the Martin Luther King holiday, led an estimated 100 people on a protest march through uptown Monday morning.

Pledging to "expose Charlotte for the racist bastion it is," he also announced a petition drive to keep the CIAA, NCAA, PGA "and any other 'A'" from coming to Charlotte.

Nantambu stopped short of saying the local civil rights group would oppose the Democratic National Convention coming to Charlotte if the city is selected. But he said he would speak with national NAACP President Ben Jealous, who would make that decision.

Nantambu and others at the march said they were incensed by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board’s decision to use the King holiday as one of three snow make-up days. Nantambu had called on students to boycott class on Monday in protest.

“This is a day that was set aside for everybody in America, but it specifically speaks to African Americans,” Nantambu told reporters before leading the march. “This is our hero. They wouldn’t ask us to not celebrate the Fourth of July. If you have other alternative days, why would you ask me not to celebrate this man’s day?”

Marching and museums

Some parents who attended the march also brought their children.

Colby Johnson, a 10th grader at Rocky River High School said he stayed out of school because, “I wanted to do more than read about the dream. I wanted to live it.”
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About 100 people joined local NAACP President Kojo Nantambu in march protesting the the Charlotte Mecklenburg school board’s decision to use the King holiday as one of three snow make-up days. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)
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The march began at the Government Center and went to the Levine Museum of the New South, where the group was scheduled to view the “Courage” exhibit, which chronicles the North Carolina fight for school desegregation, which spread nationally and ended with a 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education. From there, the group was scheduled to tour other exhibits at the Harvey B. Gantt Center.

“It’s very important that we stand together in unity for the right things,” former school board candidate Robin Bradford told the crowd. “We do believe in education, but we fight for what is right, and what we are doing today is what is right.”

Allegations of racism

Nantambu, just before the march began, told the crowd that Jesse Jackson had agreed to lead a Charlotte march if he is asked. Nantambu said he also would be contacting Al Sharpton, Warren Ballentine and others.

“We want to expose Charlotte for the racist bastion that it is...,” he said. “It is making a separate community while at the same time lying to the nation and saying that they’re including everybody. If they are going to lie to the nation, we’re going to make sure the nation knows what they are all about.”

In announcing the petition drive asking groups to avoid Charlotte, Nantambu said the city is “racially divided, they are discriminatory, they are bigots. They do not care about all of their citizens. They do not deserve to have anything here.”

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