05/13/04 — Local digest

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Local digest

By Don McLoud
Published in News on May 13, 2004 2:56 PM

The Concerned Clergy and NAACP of Wayne County will sponsor a celebration and "call to action" on Monday for the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that outlawed school segregation.

There will be an assembly on the steps of Goldsboro City Hall at noon. Gerald Simmons, retired educator from Wayne Community College, will speak, and music will be provided by the J.W. Jackson Seventh Day Adventist Academy.

At 7 that evening, a worship service will be held at Greenleaf Christian Church, 2110 N. William St. The Rev. Dr. Mazie Ferguson will speak. She is a pastor, lawyer, professor and great niece of Mary McCloud Bethune, who formed one of the first black schools.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber, pastor of Greenleaf, said that Monday's theme is "50 Years Later: Where Are We?"

He said there would be an update on a complaint filed by Concerned Clergy against the school system over the racial imbalance in central Goldsboro schools, as well as prayers for the school system.