Mansfield, (WBAP/KLIF News) – The Mansfield Independent School District is marking the 60th anniversary of the beginning of students’ fight to end segregation in its schools. In 1966, 13 people led an effort to end segregation in the district.
“You have to learn from your history,” says Mansfield ISD Superintendent Jim Vaszauskas. “We honor that time, but we understand where we’re going. We know that we’re moving forward in a very good direction.”
Mansfield ISD now has 34,100 students at 43 schools.
During a prayer service Tuesday, Floyd Moody, one of the students involved 60 years ago, told the crowd that each generation shares a desire to give their kids a better future.
“Every time I look at a rose bush, I think about if you want to get the rose, you’ve got to get past the thorn,” he says. “Now, we are celebrating the rose of Mansfield.”
The service was held at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Pastor Michael Evans says Donald Trump’s nomination for president highlights an ongoing need to work against racism.
“The only way we can defeat any kind of divisiveness is to lock arms together,” Evans says. “We built a country because people from different places from around the world came here and worked together.”
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