Local NAACP Weighs in on MLK/Meridian Ranch Controversy

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) --  The president of the Colorado Springs branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said the principal of Meridian Ranch Elementary was right in pulling a second grader dressed up as Martin Luther King, Jr. from class, according to ABC affiliate KRDO-TV.

Eight-year-old student Sean King, who is white, was taken out of class for wearing black face paint for a class project on King Jr.  NAACP president Rosemary Harris Lytle was pleased King was pulled from class because blackface make-up used to be popular with performers in skits to portray racist stereotypes of African-Americans.  The use of blackface make-up was seen as offensive in the United State after the civil rights movements in the 1960's, according to the report.

King told KRDO he did not mean to offend anyone with his costume.  The dress code at Meridian Ranch bans the use of face paint.

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