Our Duty: Vigilance and Participation

Reflections on The Smithsonian exhibit of Brown v. Board of Education, Tim Wise’s radio interview and Bob Herbert’s Separate but Unequal article

The Smithsonian website of Brown v. Board of Education was full of components to the build-up of and the actual event. I think they were trying to show how important events that led up to this case were in building a foundation for a favoured vote. They show how everything in the past is a basis and are connected to how we live in the present and what will come in the future. Because of this, I needed to do some background digging. So I searched Wikipedia.

Among these key events were first the Civil War’s influence of passing the 14^th Amendment in 1868, which not only alludes to the 13^th Amendment which emancipated all slaves but states “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This means that all Americans are free and equal, regardless of race. However we know that because of segregation, this didn’t begin to look true until almost 100 years later with Brown v. Board of Education. Even today as all of our texts ranging from McIntosh, Johnson, Delpit, August, etc. point out, this amendment is not truly upheld.

The next key moment in history came with the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which was about a man who was considered Black (he was actually 7/8^th’s White and 1/8’s Black) who was encouraged by the Committee of Citizens to board a white railroad car. He was arrested and stated the 14^th amendment as his defence. Plessy lost the case as the Supreme Court stated that the separation of races was public policy and that in this defence it “stamps the coloured race with a badge of inferiority.” Yes, I know, I’m fired up too! The court said that segregation made every one equal. But as we learn from the Smithsonian tour, what transpired was actually more like separate and unequal.

Meanwhile behind the scenes after Plessy v. Ferguson, Charles Houston gathered a group of budding lawyers to find a way to prove that segregation laws (Jim Crow laws) were enforcing unequal treatment. Houston decided after this case that the justices on the Supreme Court were not going to overturn separation. When he passed the reigns over to Thurgood Marshall in 1936, various other lawsuits on transportation, teaching salaries and schools were filed in an attempt to prove their point. The time was ripe to overturn segregation because American was questioning was being a Democracy really meant which lead to a deeper focus on racial justices. Finally, in 1951, with Brown v. Board of Education, he felt they had a strong case.

 

In the fall of 1951 parents of Topeka, Kansas, encouraged by the NAACP, attempted to enroll their children in a closer school to their home, which just happened to be a White school. When they were refused, they filed suit against the education board of their city and put Oliver L. Brown at the helm, who was trying to enroll his daughter. Not only was the school closer but it was better. At the time states funded White schools better than any other. Often books for the White schools, outdated and replaced, were given to the Black, Mexican, Asian, etc. schools. These races also had to fundraise through BBQ’s and dig into their own pockets in order to raise money for their schools. They often built the schools and hired their own teachers. I’d call that pretty unequal.

During the case, people starting spreading the word of what was going on in their world. Whites were either ignoring the problem or ignorant. Hoping that the majority was doing the latter, they hung flags whenever a Black man was hung. They were saying the words in order to spread consciousness. Allan Johnson said “if we dispense with the words we make it impossible to talk about what’s really going on and what it has to do with us” which is why it’s important to keep the conversation going about what is happening in our country. The case was won in favour of Brown in a unanimous vote. Most of us are familiar with the Norman Rockwell’s (an artist most known for paintings of American life) painting of the black girl being escorted by white U.S. Marshalls to school with her book and school supplies in hand. The Smithsonian makes mention of this picture because it depicts that even after a law is passed, how much opposition it can still have. Something I hadn’t even recognized before was the smashed tomato against the wall where the girl had just passed. Just appalling. 

          At the end of the virtual high school level tour of the Smithsonian exhibit, the curators along with a historian answer questions from students. I found these very informative because they addressed how the case of Brown v. Board of Education has influenced other minority disadvantages that came after. Almost like a full circle gathering of historical context, showing how everything is influential and connected. One student was told after their question how this case paved the way for woman (workplace), disabled (ADA laws) and LGBQTV (marriage) individuals of today. Alonzo Smith mentioned after a question was posed how Dr. Kenneth Clark went into schools to test how students felt about race by using a Black and a White skinned doll. This study proved how segregation affected self-esteem in Black children and dislike of Blacks in White children and was a key component in the case. Smith goes on to say that “you can’t make money without good education and so your life chances are severely restricted.” This reminds me of the Kozol article where the Mott Haven residents are faced with the same vicious circle kind of situation.

Bob Herbert addresses some of these same issues in his article Separate and Unequal. His focus is more on the idea of rich and poor schools and how that usually relates to race. He points out that studies have shown low-income students performing better in schools that were more advantaged. In fact “studies have shown that it is not the race of the students that is significant, but rather the improved all-around environment of schools with better teachers.” These poorer students can keep up with those who have more money, they just aren’t being given the opportunity to because they are given less expectations and forced to attend a school with lowered budgets. In order to change this throughout the country, there has to be ethnic and racial as well as diverse income statuses of students’ integration of schools. That way truly there is no child left behind in every sense of the phrase and it becomes a program that actually works.

Tim Wise takes these ideas a step further by pointing out that we may have overcome our racism 1.0 but that we have graduated to racism 2.0. What he means by this is that we may have a Black President so we could say that we aren’t racist but that we actually are because it’s a certain kind of Black person who we accept; one, who comes from a great educational background, is well versed and erudite. He alludes to colour comfort idea as well but doesn’t come right out stating that which none of us have really said-Barack Obama has light brown skin. Would he have been elected if he was a darker shade? Would he have been elected if sounded as hillbilly as George W. Bush? Wise says no because in order for an ethnic person to break the glass ceiling, they have to be truly exceptional.” As we saw yesterday at the Promising Practices conference during the panel and as Wise says being poor is not an excuse but it is a reason for why changes must take place in our schools. Poor students must be given the tools in order to give them the opportunity to not use their socioeconomic status as an excuse and that it is our responsibility to do so.

 

Wise wants us to be reminded that just because but an ethnic person may not present themselves the same way Obama does, doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent and that by ignoring them, we are supressing someone who may have something to say. We have to stop judging from the surface, just as Peggy McIntosh points out in her article. Wise also points out a common theme in all three of these presentations and articles which is that we must remember about how much work still needs to be done and that it’s no good remaining in a denial state. We must, as Johnston also mentions, say the words! We deny the problems at hand by trying hard to be racist by being nice but remaining oblivious to our actions and the actions of others. He points out that in 1962 most people didn’t think there was a racism problem in our country. There clearly was but most were too ignorant to recognize it.

The reason it is important to learn about cases like Brown v. Board of Education is to see what changes can be made. The reason it is important to explore the case and be reminded of it fifty years later is to recognize the changes that still need to be made. This is made clear by the Smithsonian exhibit, Bob Herbert and Tim Wise. Harry Rubinstein sums this point up perfectly; “it’s not just about passing the law, it requires more like on-going vigilance and participation.” This case affects everyone in America because we are all diverse in different ways. We all must continue to fight for equal rights by participating in the conversation and striving for changes that truly make us all equal.

 

Questions For Class:

·         At the conference yesterday, a hot point was Mayor Angel Taveras comment about how being poor isn’t an excuse. These articles show us that it is the education system and essential we as citizens, not as teachers, are making an excuse by not addressing the reasons why poor students have trouble. These article show point out ways we can change this like socioeconomic, ethnic and race mixed classrooms but how do we actually make it happen?

Picture Links:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Educational_separation_in_the_US_prior_to_Brown_Map.svg

http://abagond.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/a-man-was-lynched-yesterday.jpg

http://llwproductions.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/norman-rockwell-block-girl-with-guards-going-to-school.jpg

http://www.dailyyonder.com/files/u2/lowincomebystate560.jpg

http://blog.latism.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/viciocus-circle-of-low-income-and-low-education.jpg

http://www.julianomidi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Low-Income-Students-Left-Behind.jpg