Race relations 101: black, white issues at Coleman Junior High.(One Writer's Perspective)

It was the buzz all over school. "Have you heard?" classmates asked, huddled together and talking in whispers, "there's going to be trouble tomorrow." We were all ears--and fears. And so the stage was set for the "Great White Walkout."

It was the mid-1970s, and I was a ninth-grader at Coleman Junior High School in Greenville. At that time, Coleman was predominately black, surrounded by a black neighborhood and had served as Greenville's black high school before integration. However, while some racial tension was exhibited on a regular basis at Coleman, whites and blacks for the most part studied together in harmony. There were no large-scale conflicts between the two groups.

Just what caused the unrest that led to the "Great White Walkout" remains unclear. If memory serves, the rumor …