- William Capacchione
William Capacchione (born
March 16 ,1951 ) grew up inTennessee . In 1971, he moved toNorth Carolina to work in the electronics industry. For a short time, Capacchione was a member of theJohn Birch Society . During the 1970s, Capacchione joined the Knights of theKu Klux Klan .Capacchione was convicted in 1990 of burning a cross in 1984 and sentenced to six months in prison and 200 hours community service working with minorities. [Scott ,Terrance. The Current Klan in North Carolina, 1975-1995. (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina Press, 2003)]
In 1997 Capacchione sued Charlotte Mecklenburg School System, claiming that his daughter was denied enrollment to Olde Providence Elementary, a magnet school, because she was not black. This caused U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter reactivated the landmark 1971 Supreme Court decision
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education .September 1999 - Potter ruled that CMS is "unitary," issuing an injunction against the use of race in student assignment and the allocation of "educational opportunities," and mandated that a new student assignment plan be in place for the 2000-2001 school year. [ [http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/discover/history.asp Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools ] ]
Notes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.