CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- More than 100 parents and student protested the decision to keep Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools open Monday on the holiday set aside to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The president of the Charlotte NAACP, Rev. Kojo Nantambu, led a rally at the Government Center in uptown where he called the city racist.
Nantambu said, "We're going to start having marches with national figures cause we want to put the national spotlight on Charlotte to show just how racist Charlotte is."
The decision to use the King holiday as a snow make-up day has inflamed the emotions of many of those who marched from the Government Center through the streets of uptown Monday.
One of the parents who kept her children home Monday was Deshauna McLamb.
She said of King, "I think he would have wanted all of us to protest today. I think this injustice."
As the marchers made their way through uptown, school superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman was attending a Martin Luther King Day presentation put on by students at Villa Heights Elementary School.
Gorman side-stepped the question of racism saying CMS had no choice. "We get to a point in time where we run out of days. Then you also run into spring break and we don't want to go to school during spring break."
The call by the NAACP to keep students out of school Monday did have an affect on attendance, said Gorman. "The feedback we are getting is maybe twice the normal absentee rate," he said.
At Elizabeth Traditional Elementary, parents who did bring their children to school said it was the right thing to do.
"Knowledge is the key. You have to go to school to get an education," said parent Janet Hart.
The local NAACP says the Rev. Jesse Jackson might be coming to Charlotte later this week to personally get involved in the issue.
The local chapter says they will talk to the national chapter before deciding if they will try to get the Democratic National Committee to reconsider Charlotte as a possible sight for the 2012 convention.
