Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
 
55th anniversary Brown v. Board of Education

Remembering Brown V. Board of Education:

55^th Anniversary

May, 2009

This Sunday – May 17^th, 2009 – marks the 55^th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, declared “separate but equal” unconstitutional, and required the integration of those schools segregating students in violation of the constitution.[1]  In 2009, following the election of our nation’s first African-American president, how should we reflect on this landmark decision?  Here are some suggestions.

The Brown decision was a turning point in the fight for civil rights and racial justice in America.

·        The decision acknowledged that institutions segregated by race are inherently unequal, and that people of color bear the brunt of the inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities.

·        The decision outlined the fundamental role that education plays as well as the importance of access to quality education for all young people.  Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Earl Warren argued that “education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments… It is the very foundation of good citizenship…[I]t is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”

Fifty-five years after this landmark decision, many students still attend segregated schools, and research shows that racial segregation – once in decline – is now on the rise.

·        Though many states made great progress in promoting school integration between the 1960s and the 1980s, the Supreme Court decided a series of cases beginning in the 1970’s that, taken together, would ultimately bring the progress to an end and reverse many of the gains achieved.  These cases made it more difficult for federal courts to address segregation and inequality and easier for school districts and states to earn the dismissal of school desegregation cases.  In decisions from 2007, the Supreme Court curtailed the ability of states and school districts voluntarily to implement programs intended to reduce segregation in schools. The combined effect of these decisions has been to reverse the trend to increased integration of schools.

·        School segregation is on the rise across the country for African-American and Latino youth, accelerating most rapidly in the South (ironically the region that had made the greatest progress in desegregating its schools).[i]

·        In Western states, 77% of Latino youth attend predominantly minority schools. [ii] White youth are the most racially isolated, attending on average schools that are 77% white. [iii]

·        During the 1996-1997 school year, black and Latino students living in suburbs of big cities attended schools with an average non-white enrollment of 60-64%.  During that same school year, the percentage of black students in majority white schools was roughly equivalent to the percentage during the 1960s. [iv]

Students of color are much more likely than white students to be concentrated in high-poverty, resource-poor schools. 

·        Schools that are predominantly black or Latino are 11 times as likely to exhibit concentrated poverty among their student bodies. [v]

·        Schools with large numbers of impoverished students tend to have lower test scores, offer inferior and fewer advanced courses, employ more uncredentialed teachers, and graduate fewer students who go on to college. [vi]

Students of color are more likely to drop out or be pushed out of schools through the racially disproportionate application of harsh discipline policies.

·        More than a million students don’t graduate from high school each year; more than half are students of color.  More than half of the students who drop out come from only 12% of the nation’s high schools.[vii]

·        African-American students are far more likely than their white peers to be suspended, expelled, or arrested for the same kind of conduct at school.[viii]

·        There is no evidence that students of color misbehave to a greater degree than white students. They are, however, punished more severely, often for behaviors that are less serious.[ix]

Racial inequalities and discrimination continue to permeate not just our educational system but a variety of American institutions in ways that continue to deny opportunities to people and communities of color.

·        The assault on affirmative action has hampered efforts to increase diversity in education, employment and public contracting.  In 2006, ten years after lobbyist and millionaire Ward Connerly campaigned to end race-conscious programs in California, only 2% of the incoming UCLA class was African American, representing the lowest enrollment of black freshmen since 1973.[x]

·        People of color are significantly less financially secure than their white counterparts, living in poverty at significantly higher rates.  For example, in 2007, 5.9% of white families lived in poverty, in comparison to 21% of African-American and 21% of Native American families.  Data from that same year shows that 1 in 3 African American and Native American children and more than 1 in 4 Latino children lived in poverty, and that the median family income for African American, Native American and Latino families was only 2/3 of the median family income for the nation as a whole. [xi]

·        Other indicators of financial stability – such as access to jobs and capital – also show structural inequalities between people of color and white people in America.   In 2007, unemployment rates for African-Americans were more than double white unemployment rates (8.3% compared to 4.1%).  In 2002, median net worth was $87,056 for white people but only $5,446 for African-Americans, $7,950 for Latinos and $59,292 for Asian-Americans. [xii]

·        Lack of access to quality healthcare is also a persistent problem for communities of color.  In 2007, more than 21% of Latino children, nearly 15% of African American children and 11% of Asian children were without health insurance.  A disproportionate number of adults of color also lack health insurance and access to critical services like prenatal care.  Low birth weights and asthma are particularly common among African-American children. [xiii]

·        Persistent residential segregation traps people of color in under-resourced neighborhoods where they lack services like quality schools and healthcare, are over-exposed to environmental hazards, and have fewer job opportunities. 

·        The negative consequences of this lack of opportunity is exhibited by the over-representation of people of color in the criminal and juvenile justice systems.  Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are incarcerated at a rate of 1 in 9, the highest rate of any group of Americans.[xiv]  In general, African-Americans are held behind bars at a rate of 5.6 times their white counterparts, and Latinos are incarcerated at a rate that is almost twice that of their white counterparts. [xv]  African-American youth represent 46% of juvenile arrests, 31% of referrals to juvenile court and 41% of waivers to adult court, though they make up only 17% of the youth population as a whole.[xvi]

Increasing investments in quality education for all students is an important means of improving opportunities for youth and their communities.

·        Increased educational attainment is linked to a variety of positive outcomes, including better jobs, higher incomes, improved health and increased life expectancy, greater voter participation, lower incarceration rates, and more.  To see the benefits of increasing levels of education in your state or county, visit http://liveunited.org/forecaster/.

·        An individual without a high school diploma earns approximately $260,000 less than a high school graduate over the course of his or her lifetime.[xvii]

·        If, by 2020, African-American, Latino and Native American students were graduating high school and college at the same rate as white students, the U.S. economy would stand to gain $310 billion dollars. [xviii]

·        Over the last two decades, increases in spending elementary, secondary and higher education has been outpaced by increases in spending on corrections. [xix]  However, on average, it costs less than $10,000 per year to educate a student but more than $22,000 per year to incarcerate an individual.  Additionally, three quarters of those in state prisons, more than half of those in federal prisons, and 69% of those in jails have not completed high school.[xx]

·        The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, after touring the United States, recently concluded that the re-segregation of American public schools “creates an obstacle in the most important means of promoting equality of opportunity, which is to offer quality education for all students.”[xxi]

Posted on Dec 18th, 2008 at 6:47 PM
 
Did Mary and Joseph need a passport?

Father Mike Seifert, who ministers to parishoners in the Valley, wonders whether passports were necessary for travel around Christmas time a couple of thousand years ago. Check out his blog.

Posted on Dec 17th, 2008 at 10:32 PM
 
'If the only tool you own is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, the saying goes'

See what the smart blog, Grits for Breakfast, has to say about using the criminal justice system to deal with issue that could, perhaps, be better deal with through public education rather than criminilization.

"We are living in an absurdist period of overcriminalization spurred largely by using the justice system to solve social problems that would better be resolved through provision of public services, expanded healthcare access, business regulation, public education and a variety of other means which are too often ignored," according to today's post.

Posted on Dec 17th, 2008 at 12:26 AM
 
A Christmas Carol from the ACLU of Texas

While some people are spreading urban legends about “wars on Christmas,” the ACLU is working to defend the rights of families, individuals, and religious communities to practice their religion without government interference. In the spirit of the holiday season, Jeremy Gunn, Director of the ACLU’s Freedom of Religion and Belief Program, penned these lyrics to the tune of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” with the hope of dispelling the myth of the war on Christmas, and spreading a little cheer in the process.

Good grief we weary gentle folk, there’s something sad today;
Our Christmas season’s come again and’s bringing fresh dismay;
Some keep us all from sharing joy by spreading grinchlike fear.

O hiding from comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O hiding from comfort and joy.

On Fox on Rush on nutty blogs, they warn of “Christmas wars!!!”
They scare their little children with their made-up tales of horrors;
They frighten all with nonsense to get money that is yours.

O sliding from comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O sliding from comfort and joy.

They hate they frown they sneer they chide in mocking disbelief:
“My Christmas tree! My bended knee! We need some quick relief!”
They seek not joy nor Christmas cheer; they love their wars of grief.

O fighting our comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O fighting our comfort and joy.

It’s time to take our Christmas back from these imposters all!
Let’s keep it strong in churches and our families large and small;
For families, friends, and intimates — true Christmas doth enthrall.

Good tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
Good tidings of comfort and joy.

Merry Christmas from the ACLU.
(And a lump of coal to those who launch Christmas wars to help fill their coffers)

Posted on Dec 15th, 2008 at 6:45 PM
 
'If the only tool you own is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, the saying goes'

See what the smart blog, Grits for Breakfast, has to say about using the criminal justice system to deal with issues that could, perhaps, be better dealt with through public education rather than criminalization.

"We are living in an absurdist period of overcriminalization spurred largely by using the justice system to solve social problems that would better be resolved through provision of public services, expanded healthcare access, business regulation, public education and a variety of other means which are too often ignored," according to today's post.

The ACLU of Texas believes that overcriminalization is a problem for the Texas justice system.