Public schools have been integrated in North Carolina since the 1960’s, but a recent measure passed by the Wake County Board of Education to send students to the school that is closest to their home is raising ire as a reprisal of “separate, but equal” in public education.

The Richmond County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council is sponsoring a trip for interested parties and youth in the county to participate in a march and rally against the neighborhood schools concept on Tuesday.

It is free for children and $10 for adults.

“We’re just trying to get some people to go up and support (Wake County activists) in their struggle,” said NAACP Youth Council Advisor Cynthia Morrison-Green. “Really, for us this trip is informational. We hear bits and pieces of what is going on, but we want to know what really is going on.”

The neighborhood schools controversy came to the forefront in Wake County after the county’s school board approved a resolution concerning the issue in March. It is set to take effect in the coming school year.

Richmond County NAACP Director Dr. Fred McQueen called the move “a giant step backwards, especially from the African-American point-of-view. We put forth a great amount of effort to integrate the schools, and to go back and re-segregate them is a huge step backwards.”

McQueen described the move for neighborhood schools as a political agenda being carried out by Wake County school board members.

“What they’ve done is elected a very conservative school board, and they’re no longer listening,” McQueen said. “The sad part of all this is that the children don’t want this - it’s the parents and other adults who are pushing for it.”

The Rev. William Barber, who heads up the state branch of the NAACP, was banned from Wake County Schools property earlier this week after he staged several protests against the plan over the past several months.

In his most effective effort to draw attention to the situation, Barber and three other protesters were accused of disrupting a Wake County School Board meeting by occupying the chairs of members and refusing to vacate them.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported the four were arrested and charged with second degree trespassing.

Green said that while the threat of neighborhood schools seems far removed from Richmond County, there is a fear the movement could pick up momentum and end up on the doorsteps of Rockingham and Hamlet.

“That’s why we are getting involved, because it’s already started in other counties and if it just continues, it could make its way here,” Green said. “This defeats the purpose of an equal education. It’s not fair, when everybody should have an equal and fair education, to tell rich people they should go to rich schools and poor people they should go to poor schools.”

Along with showing support, Green said the trip will give Richmond County youth the opportunity to become involved in civics and gain a better grasp on current affairs.

“They need to have the opportunity to understand what’s going on in our society, and the struggles between the upper classes and the lower classes,” she said. “This is not just for African-American children, either. Everyone’s invited to come and participate.”

The bus leaves at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the NAACP office on Hamlet Avenue. Those in attendance will participate in a protest march through downtown Raleigh that culminates at the Capitol Building with speakers.

For more information or to sign up call (910) 582-1323, or (910) 730-3806.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.