This past weekend marked the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Apparently, those in the Nettleton, Mississippi, school district didn't get the memo on King's message of equality. Read the original memo.

Brandy Springer, a mother of four mixed-race children, was horrified to find out that her 12-year-old daughter could not run for class reporter because she was not of the "right" race. MSNBC reports that a memo sent home with her daughter described a system of student elections wherein race determined whether or not a candidate could run for certain class positions. Because Springer's daughter was not white, she could not submit her name as a candidate for class reporter.

The school has since revoked the controversial election rules, stating that they came from a policy set in place 30 years ago that aimed to promote racial equality. Per the rules, the race of the students allowed to run for certain positions would alternate each year (blacks, then whites, then blacks again, and so on). That meant that this year, a black student couldn't run for class president, while next year, only a black student could run for class president. Springer, who had recently moved from Florida to Nettleton, was so outraged that she pulled her kids out of the school the next day.

Springer told MSNBC that even if the policy was an attempt to ensure black and white participation, diversity is no longer a black-and-white issue because a growing number of mixed-race and Hispanic children (as well as kids of other ethnicities) attend school together.

The NAACP is calling for a Justice Department investigation, and the ACLU is conducting one of its own.

Moms, what do you think of this racially charged middle-school policy?