White busing opponents sang ‘We Shall Overcome’ to protest desegregation.

Evidence

When the judge convened hearings on the assignment formula, white opponents sang verses from the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” in the hallways outside the packed courtroom. The school board tried to introduce evidence that popular opposition would make two-way busing unworkable, but the judge dismissed the line of inquiry with a brusque comment that he already had seen “ample evidence of the unpopularity of the Constitution in Mecklenburg County.” — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 57

Categorization

• CANDY: White segregationists singing the civil rights anthem as protest is a darkly ironic, tweetable tidbit.
• XREF: Connects to the reading purpose: the ironic appropriation of the movement’s own language and symbolism by those resisting integration. — connects to: White segregationists appropriated the civil rights anthem to protest integration.; Busing opponents inverted civil rights language to cast white taxpayers as an aggrieved majority — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 41

Broader Connections

• White segregationists appropriated the civil rights anthem to protest integration. #corroborates (0.95)
• Busing opponents inverted civil rights language to cast white taxpayers as an aggrieved majority #expands (0.88) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 41