Brown vs The Topeka Kansas Board of Education, My Thoughts

"By busing a white or black child two hours or forcing them to sit next to each other at a desk, you may end up with a racially mixed school, but there are tremendous differences in educational results. Inner-city children operate at a disadvantage regardless of their race or ethnicity. They live with the disadvantages brought on by poverty. The inequities today are really socioeconomic and not race or ethnicity."

"It is important that kids, especially middle-class white kids, grow up in schools that reflect the multiracial aspect of the 21st Century. One of the first things you learn in integrated schools is tolerance, understanding, comfort and familiarity."

Both of the above statements are true, yet they come from opposing viewpoints. It has been fifty years since the Supreme Court presided over Brown vs The Topeka Kansas School Board and so much has not changed. I have read a few articles today about this anniversary, most of them fluffy about how we all hold hands and sing kumbaya now that we have integrated schools but the fact remains we are still segregated. How far have we come since the civil rights movement, and is there a need for more legislation and more of an effort to combat racism in this country.

Over that past 5 years I have lived in an area of the world that is still widely segregated and a great deal of racism exist out in the open. This is a stark contrast to where I grew up. I went to what would be considered a melting pot high school in a suburban middle class town. And believe me when I say it was crammed down our throats at every turn, that we were the lucky ones because of where we lived and who we went to school with. As a youngster I did not fully understand it, but now as an adult I feel it was the most important thing I learned as a youngster.

But was my education more important than someone who went to an all white school in the south? What I can tell you is they know more about the civil war than I do that is for sure. Decisions like Brown vs The Board of Education do not always have the affect they intended. Down in the south as more black students were bussed into white school the whites simply sent their children to private schools or moved out of the area. Many of the white schools that were to be integrated have now been swung back from integrated in the 70's to all black now. So has this court ruling worked, or are we back to sperate but equal? Was the 1896 ruling of Plessy vs Ferguson what we wanted all along, saying seperate but equal did not violate the constitution?

These questions can only be answered by how we Americans treat each other on a day to day basis. What is the difference in segregating schools or telling gay people they can't get married? We are fighting a war in Iraq were we disposed the Baath Party who mistreated the Shiites and other ethnic groups, no different the pre 1950's America. We still live in a country were I typed in Ku Klux Klan and got 316,000 web pages in .12 seconds. Basically we have to change how we treat each other and how we feel, and that does start with educating youngsters. If you believe in God you are taught two simple things, treat others as you want to be treated and that God created all of us in his image, that means everyone!! Now if you don't believe in God then what is your basis for believing that one kind of people (black or white, tall or short, straight or gay, fat or thin, man or women) is inherently better or worse than another group? Oh thats right you don't have one. So we must continue to fight these types of segregation and racism wherever they exist in this country, especially in our schools so we can try and change the future. I hope 50 years from now we do not even need to have these types of discussions.