Bishop Thompson calls on "moral army" to oppose end of diversity policy

Bishop Richard K. Thompson issued a call to action to his church's "moral army" Thursday night while challenging the Wake County school board majority and those who support them.

Thompson, the leader of the 40,000-member Eastern NC District of the AME Zion Church, cast his support for the old diversity policy as being the morally correct position. He urged the school board majority to step back from the "dangerous road" it's taking, which he called a "recipe for disaster."

"To the Wake County school board and other municipalities in the state, we are opposed to any policies, overt or covert, that will lead to the resegregation of public schools," Thompson said. "I want you to hear us. We will not go away. July 20 is not the end. It is the beginning."

Thompson drew a standing ovation from the more than 300 people who attended the prayer vigil at St. Mark AME Zion in Durham.

Thompson said the supporters of the board majority are backing them because they think their schools in moderate to affluent communities will be better off with neighborhood schools. He said those supporters are taking a "cover their heads turn their eyes from what will happen to other schools" point of view.

Thompson looked at the same stats used by the board majority showing the low test scores and graduation rates for poor children. But he interpreted their meaning differently, saying it would only get worse by eliminating the diversity policy.

"I need for The Wake County school board to know," Thompson said. "We see the same things you see. However, we see beyond partisan politics. We see poor children trapped in a failed system being used as pawns in a dangerous chess game, and we understand that by isolating and concentrating the problem, will not make it go away."

While the diversity policy wasn't perfect, Thompson said it didn't create racially identifiable high poverty schools.

"The diversity plan that was abandoned may not have been perfect," Thompson said. "But it created much needed socioeconomic diversity across the entire school district."

Thompson cast questions about the motives of the new majority.

"Because the school board’s plan has not been made public, one is led to believe that when all is said and done instead of busing for diversity they will be busing for elitism," Thompson said.

Thompson was also skeptical whether the board majority would provide more money to high poverty schools and if that would help.

"Please don’t insult our intelligence by saying you're making these schools better," he said. "Money doesn’t solve our problems, it just masks the problems for a time."

Thompson took exception to some of the comments on the N&O website that have been posted by supporters of the board majority. For instance, he pointed to one comment arguing that the Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, was going against the wishes of the majority of Wake County voters who backed the new board members.

Thompson responded by saying that in most instances in the Bible the majority voted wrong on critical issues. He said the Bible talks about the "Godly few" and not the "moral majority."

Thompson cited some examples, such as how the Israelites said they wanted to return to Egypt while at the Red Sea or how God punished the Israelites to walk 40 years in the desert because the people sided with the spies who didn't want them to walk into Canaan.

"When the choice was given, Jesus or Barabbas, we all know who the voters selected," Thompson said.

In case the audience had any doubts about why the church was getting involved, Thompson said AME Zion is the "freedom church," whose past members include Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

"Your slight majority today is the aftermath of the church’s silence," Thompson said. "We will no longer sit in our churches silent."

Click here for a press release on the vigil.