Community members of all ages gathered at the Arts Center Plaza in Carrboro for a Black Lives Matter demonstration organized by three local students with a focus on addressing racist systems in education.
Organizers based the event, which began with hundreds of participants kneeling for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in silence to honor George Floyd, with a march from 300 East Main Street in Carrboro to McCorkle Place on UNC’s campus. Protesters decried racism in the police force and shouted the names of African Americans killed by police violence.
— WCHL & Chapelboro (@WCHLChapelboro) June 12, 2020
Once the crowd reached the university campus and circled at the entrance of Graham Memorial Hall, the event shifted to addressing systemic racism in education and childhood development. Educators and activists addressed a crowd largely made up of young, local students and talked about injustices within the local school districts.
According to the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools District exceeds national average test scores more than any other district in North Carolina. The center, however, says the school system has the one of the largest achievement gaps between black and white students in the country.
Coretta Sharpless, a Phillips Middle School and Chapel Hill High alumna, spoke at the rally.
“This is where I grew up,” she said. “This where I was educated, this is where my heart beats and breathes.”
Sharpless, who is now the principal for Northside Elementary School in Chapel Hill, shared her school’s belief statements that declare its commitment to interrupting white supremacy in curriculum and helping marginalized students. She said things have greatly changed since her upbringing through resilience and being outspoken.
But Sharpless said there still is work to be done. She shared the story of a young girl coming to her office with a concern that her teacher might have been prejudiced.
“Our [last belief statement] says ‘we believe in holding each other accountable to these beliefs,” said Sharpless. “I salute her today because she understood her voice matters. She understood that if there’s going to be a change, [we] can’t look to others to change [our] circumstances, I’m empowered and I demand you to change them.”
Other speakers shared experienced they’ve had either as students in classrooms or as educators who witness the cyclical nature of students being punished or taught with methods that don’t keep racial equity in mind.
Emile Charles, one of the organizers of the event and a Chapel Hill native, explained the decision to focus on education.
“A huge demand we’ve seen across the country is defunding the police, but we also want to highlight was to reinvest,” he said. “For us, that is our huge education gap and our communities being gentrified by UNC students and increasing housing rates. That’s [part] of the injustices done to black children in our schools and other schools.”
Charles helped organize a protest last week, which focused more on the national outcry for police reform following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. He said Friday’s developed a more local and education-focused view as he reached out to people to speak.
“I knew a few people who are also invested in the community and some of those teachers I used to have,” said Charles. “Local change, local community… I couldn’t be happier.”
Sharpless expressed similar sentiments, saying it’s important to move together with unity in addressing concerns while still celebrating change already seen.
“I believe in our youth,” she said. “I believe in the system and that, even though there are things that need to be fixed, there are people committed to do what needs to happen.”
Chapel Hill Transit detoured bus routes and both Chapel Hill and Carrboro Police Departments blocked traffic to accommodate the march to McCorkle Place. Normal traffic patterns resumed shortly after 3:30 p.m.
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