In 1896, just 31 years after the end of the American Civil War, the Supreme Court legitimized racial segregation with the ruling of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. With the ruling of the case, the Supreme Court decided that under the Equal Protection Clause, which is included in our Fourteenth Amendment, allowing for segregation was legal, as long as the segregation did not deny any person the equal protection of the law; which better became known as the phrase, “separate but equal”.
It took the United States of America 52 years to overturn this phrase with the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, a monumental, and unanimous, decision made by the Supreme Court that solidified the notion that separate facilities for education were unequal. With the Supreme Court ruling, not only were schools mandated to become desegregated but so were all separate facilities.
I cannot say that our country took exceptionally well to this ruling. It took an additional 12 years of protesting, rallying, and an entire Civil Rights Movement for the United States to begin to look a little less segregated.
The Civil Rights Movement ended in 1968 with the passing of the Civil Rights Act that prohibited discrimination based on race, color, or religion.
That was 48 years ago.
Why do we still have segregated schools in the United States of America?
Why are we, as American citizens, okay with people creating new school districts by means of gerrymandering to ensure that they are not in schools with… “those kids”?
I recently watched a Frontline documentary (“Separate and Unequal”) that elaborated on the concept of creating brand new cities to benefit the upper and middle-class. Yes, creating brand new cities to completely segregate themselves from their neighbors who fall around the poverty line.
The United States has gone from racial segregation to economic segregation. We as a country are “over” racial segregation because we have a black president. Great, good job America, that is not the definition of racial segregation, but we’re working on it. Anyways, now that we’ve “overcome” racial segregation we have moved on to not wanting to associate with those who are poorer than us. Qu’ils manget de la brioche! What type of 1500s French Aristocrats have we become?
We need to wake the hell up.
Integration of race, religion, and culture works in education.
Integration enhances learning outcomes by allowing students to bring their backgrounds and culture into education, allowing for a more intimate educational journey.
Integration eradicates racist tendencies which are taught by allowing the separation of students based on skin color, race, or national heritage.
Integration allows students to understand cross-racial and intercultural phenomena which strengthen communication and personalities such to make for more empathetic and personable students.
Integration closes the achievement gap. (The achievement gap measures the performance of students based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status. This typically is measured by standardized testing, drop-out rates, and GPAs.)
Racial segregation and socioeconomic segregation go hand in hand because segregation is segregation, and by allowing our local and domestic governments to continue segregation, we promote inequality to those we deem less than us.
