Segregation Isn’t the Problem in Schools; It’s Inequality
Lessons from Brown v. Board of Education that America didn’t learn
The decision in Brown v. Board of Education handed down by the Supreme Court on May 17, 1954, was the right one. However, 65 years later, schools remain segregated. Experts who say the focus today should be on desegregation and integration are misguided. Instead, the focus today should be to end inequalities.
There’s no doubt segregated schools can be a way to hoard resources or deprive schools of resources. Even so, the solution isn’t necessarily integration; the solution is always resources.
At the time of the Supreme Court ruling, some Black people weren’t interested to integrate schools. They wanted educational equality. Among them was Zora Neale Hurston. She considered the ruling to desegregate schools an insult.
Here’s what she wrote after the decision:
“If there are not adequate Negro schools in Florida, and there is some residual, some inherent and unchangeable quality in white schools, impossible to duplicate anywhere else, then I am the first to insist that Negro children of Florida be allowed to share this boon. But if there are adequate Negro schools and prepared instructors and instructions, then there is nothing different…
