Black leaders celebrate 70 years since Brown v. Board with call to action

Some of the nation’s most prominent black political leaders and advocates celebrated the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education on Friday, calling for more to be done to end current segregation.

Many Black leaders have expressed concerns about the limitations of Black history and diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in schools.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) marked the landmark case by highlighting the dangers and violence that black students faced during integration.

“Following the ruling, children simply trying to attend school were met by violent, racist mobs and local officials were sued in federal court for keeping their districts segregated,” Jeffries said in a statement.

“Now, the most segregated school systems in America can be directly attributed to policies implemented by opponents of integration after the ruling,” he continued. “Decades later, it remains deeply concerning and unacceptable that we continue to fail to ensure that all students can thrive on a level playing field.”

In 1952, Thurgood Marshall led a group of lawyers – Robert Carter, Jack Greenberg, Constance Baker Motley, Spottswood Robinson, Oliver Hill, Louis Redding, Charles and John Scott, Harold R. Boulware, James Nabrit and George E.C. Hayes – in arguing a set of five cases before the Supreme Court.

The cases, condensed into Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education challenged the “shameful” separate but equal doctrine upheld by the Court in Plessy v.

“Brown had its genesis in 1619, when the first Africans were brought to this country and introduced to the colonies that enslaved them,” said Rep. Al Green (D-Texas). “So from 1619 to 1954, there were about 335 years of slavery, convict leasing, and legal segregation.”

“But we know that even after Brown, there is still hateful discrimination in the country to this day, and we are still combating it here in Congress with legislation,” he added.

Green, who introduced the Conscience Agenda last year, said that until there is an end to things like school vouchers and voter suppression, neither the 14th Amendment nor Brown’s legacy have been fulfilled.

“We are opening the door to resegregation in schools, and if we resegregate in schools, we can resegregate society,” Green argued.

Reverend Al Sharpton said Friday’s anniversary was a day of reflection as much as a day of celebration.

“While we celebrate 70 years since the Supreme Court’s first decision to overturn Jim Crow in education – and the implications went beyond education – that celebration is tempered by the fact that we now have a Supreme Court that has embraced affirmative action and attacked voting. rights,” Sharpton told The Hill.

“If this Supreme Court had been sitting in 1954, they probably wouldn’t have voted for Brown over the Board of Education,” he said.

Sharpton added that the legacy of Brown v. Board may already be disappearing amid the culture wars.

“When I look at the fact that when you have states like Florida banning books and other states supporting it, I don’t know if kids would even know what Brown v. Board of Education meant,” Sharpton said.

During the 2022–23 school year, 153 districts in 33 states banned books, according to the PEN America report, many of which explored themes of race and racism.

One of those books, “Ruby Bridges Goes to School,” detailed the experiences Ruby Bridges had at age 6, when she became one of the first black children to attend an all-white school after the Brown decision.

Republican-led states, including Florida and Arkansas, have also banned or limited aspects of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course in 2023.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said segregation can also be clearly seen in increased school choice, or in the ability of families to select alternatives to public schools.

Studiesshow that school choice exacerbates segregation in public schools, and today’s schools continue to seesegregationat surprising rates.

“[T]The increase in school choice has paved the way for public schools to become more separate and unequal, despite our country being more racially diverse,” Horsford said on behalf of the Caucus.

“The resegregation we see in our schools is by no means isolated,” he continued. “It’s actually part of a much larger effort to deny communities of color access to opportunities in our country.”

He added, “Furthermore, a lack of federal funding has contributed to this stark disparity, which is why the CBC and Congressional Democrats have continued to work with the Biden-Harris administration to make historic investments in HBCUs and prioritize federal investment in learning early childhood, head start, and Title I funding for traditionally underserved communities.

Although the Biden-Harris administration has invested $16 billion in historically black colleges and universities over the past three years, a December 2022 study by the Education Trust found that districts with predominantly nonwhite students receive more than $2,000 per student, less than predominantly white districts.

In a district with 5,000 students, this would equate to a $13.5 million lack of resources.

David Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, added that as we celebrate the 70th anniversary, there should be an effort to remember those who paved the way for integration.

“We focused on Ruby Bridges – as we should – but few people know the names and stories of the New Orleans Four… and what it meant to be 6 years old, enduring the physical, emotional and psychological trauma they endured to go to school, to have access to opportunities,” Johns said.

Ruby Bridges made history in 1960 when she became the first African-American student to integrate an elementary school in the South and, for many, is the face of desegregation.

The New Orleans Four, Johns explained, included Bridges, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost and Leona Tate.

While Bridges went to William Frantz Elementary School, Etienne, Prevost and Tate went to McDonogh 19 Elementary School. Like Bridges, Johns said, he wants to see the three receive flowers for what they endured to help end segregation.

But, he added, today’s students also deserve to be recognized for working to keep the legacy alive, even when schools limit access to books or certain topics.

“There are several of us who live in the legacy of Justice [Thurgood] Marshall and we are committed to defending and strengthening democracy and promoting equity, including through schools,” Johns said. “Much of this education happens outside of schools; is happening on TikTok. It is the young people who understand Fannie Lou Hamer’s teaching that until we are all free, none of us will be free.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story