U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, on the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision which ended the “separate but equal” doctrine of legal segregation of schools, promised advocates and civil rights activists that the promise contained in that historic 1954 Supreme Court decision will be protected and advanced by the U.S. Department of Justice so long as he is the Attorney General.
Speaking to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund recently, the group that championed the Brown case, Holder explained efforts of the Justice Department to hold schools accountable in achieving the goal of the Brown case.
“I want to assure you, as we mark this historic anniversary, that my colleagues and I remain as committed to this cause as ever before.
“While the number of school districts that remain under desegregation court orders has decreased significantly in just the past decade, the department continues to actively enforce and monitor nearly 200 desegregation cases where school districts have not yet fulfilled their legal obligation to eliminate segregation ‘root and branch,’” Holder said.
“In those cases, we work to ensure that all students have the building blocks of educational success, from access to advanced placement classes, to facilities without crumbling walls and old technology, to safe and positive learning environments.
“We’re partnering with the Department of Education to reform school discipline policies that fuel the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ and that have resulted in students of color facing suspensions and expulsions at a rate three times higher than that of their White peers.
“And we are moving in a variety of ways to dismantle racial barriers and promote inclusion, from America’s classrooms, to our boardrooms, to our voting booths, and far beyond.”
The nation’s chief law enforcement officer said he was a toddler when the Brown v. Board of Education was in the news.
“I was just three years old in 1954, when Brown was decided. Thanks to some of the pioneers in this room, my generation was the first to grow up in a world in which ‘separate but equal’ was no longer the law of the land. Even as a child growing up in New York City, I understood, as I learned about the decision, that its impact was truly groundbreaking, bringing the law in line with the fundamental truth of the equality of our humanity,” Holder said.
“Yet, although Brown marked a major victory, like anyone old enough to remember the turbulence of the 1960s, I also knew, and saw firsthand, that this country wouldn’t automatically translate the words of Brown into substantive change.
“The integration of our schools — a process that was halting, confrontational and at times even bloody — did not by itself put an end to the beliefs and attitudes that had given rise to the underlying inequity in the first place.”
Holder continued, “The outlawing of institutional segregation did not by itself soften the enmity, and alleviate the vicious bias, that had been directed against African-American people and communities for generations. And the rejection, in its clearest form by our highest court, of legal discrimination could not, by itself, wash away the hostility that would, for years, fuel new, perversely innovative attempts to keep ‘separate but equal’ in place.”
The Republican Party, which has been extremely critical of Holder, the nation’s first African-American Attorney General, has been making serious outreach efforts in minority communities lately, especially in the wake of President Obama’s resounding 2012 re-election.
Party Chairman Reince Priebus issued a statement on the anniversary of Brown:
“Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court, in a historic and unanimous decision, declared that school segregation violated our most basic American value — that we are all created equal. They affirmed the principle that in America, all children deserve a great education and a chance to create their American dream,” Priebus said.
“We celebrate how far we’ve come. But even so, not every child in America today has access to a quality education. Too many children are assigned to failing schools with no way out, and minority and disadvantaged children are the most likely to suffer the consequences of a broken system.”
The GOP leader added, “Education is the civil rights issue of our day, and this anniversary can be a call to action. There’s much work to be done, but one important path to reform is school choice. Parents should have the ability to choose a school, any school, that’s right for their children — traditional public, charter, private, magnet, virtual or home school.
“Sadly, there are those who stand in the way of school choice and would rather defend the unacceptable status quo. But we know from history that improving our schools and guaranteeing equal opportunity are not easy tasks. We must continue to fight because our children — all of our children — deserve nothing less.”
Holder said he will continue to fight while in office.
“So long as I have the privilege of serving as Attorney General of the United States, this Justice Department will never stop working to expand the promise of a nation where everyone has the same opportunity to grow, to contribute and to succeed. By calling for new voting protections, and by challenging unjust restrictions that discriminate against vulnerable populations or communities of color, we’ll keep striving to ensure the free exercise of every citizen’s most fundamental rights,” Holder said.
President Obama, in a White House release, put Brown in context of the struggles the nation has gone through.
“As we commemorate this historic anniversary, we recommit ourselves to the long struggle to stamp out bigotry and racism in all their forms. We reaffirm our belief that all children deserve an education worthy of their promise,” the president said.
“And we remember that change did not come overnight, that it took many years and a nationwide movement to fully realize the dream of civil rights for all of God’s children. We will never forget the men, women and children who took extraordinary risks in order to make our country more fair and more free.
“Today, it falls on us to honor their legacy by taking our place in their march and doing our part to perfect the union we love.”
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle. E-mail [email protected].
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