State Commemorates Briggs vs. Elliott

(Columbia) - Fund education now was their message as hundreds of marchers rallied to the State House Saturday morning.Before arriving at the State House steps, marchers gathered at Zion Baptist Church. Throughout the streets of downtown Columbia, they held signs and shouted for equity in schools. The rally came in the midst of controversy over giving state funds to private schools. Supporters say rural school districts are suffering so the state shouldn't spend money on another school system. One Black marcher said most of the people who can afford private schools are not minorities so she thinks the state is rolling back the clock and not moving forward.Many of the marchers held signs that said "50 years later, still separate, still unequal. Ralliers think that despite landmark Supreme Court cases like Briggs vs. Elliot, the state is still behind the times.Nathaniel Brigg's father fought in the suit."It's a shame 50 years later, we're back here protesting equal education for our students." He says poor school districts can have a ripple effect, no funding means no education, keeping South Carolina at the bottom.Among the sea of people at the rally, there were Blacks and Whites both saying that inadequate funding, schools physically unfit for students and districts getting poorer and poorer are just a few of the problems. They're saying not much has changed in the last 40 to 50 years.Alfreda Pearson's father and family fought in another case at the same time as Briggs' father. Her families' case tried to get school buses for Black children in Clarendon County. The case was also one of many that led to the decision made in Brown vs. The Board of Education. She says, "people feel the same way, their hearts are still the same so therefore the fight is still the same.Her aunt, Phynise Pearson Witherspoon, says, the whole state of South Carolina is moving very slowly and in that move, the kids are getting lost.Briggs says the march was not about Black or White, just equal education. He thinks it's ironic that he is fighting the same struggle his father fought almost a half century ago. And he says he will keep pushing for education equity just like his father.