Racial Inequity on Education

What? Before we dive into the commentary of Hannah-Jones, we must be educated on the background of this point in history. Hannah-Jones speaks about busing. Busing is the act of assigning or transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in order to reduce racial segregation in schools. She breaks through the myth that busing actually failed and did not do any justice towards the desegregation of schools, and as a matter of fact, was actually “dramatically successful” (Hannah-Jones). This directly correlates with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which ruled racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional. The South began to retaliate after this legislation, even to the point of closing down schools which resulted in black children having no where to receive an education at all. As a result, the African American students were severely at a disadvantage because the white students had been offered private vouchers while they were given nothing. As the integration of schools began, the North and South had different views on the ruling. I thought that this podcast provided insightful views on the racial atmosphere at the time and how even there were steps to better the inequity between races, there was great difficulty in making it become reality.

One of the points that struck me was the difference between the two regions. Hannah Jones states, “The North has long liked to separate itself as not being racially backwards like the South. And so they saw the ruling as forcing the South to treat its black citizens like citizens. But that’s because most white Northern communities did not actually believe Brown v. Board of Education applied to them” (Hannah-Jones). I found this interesting because this perspective seemed slightly hypocritical. It appears as if the North wanted the idea of equality, but at the same time did not want it to become reality. It is as if there was a sense a pride of not being as racially close-minded as the South, however when there is a push towards becoming more open, that pride simmers down and becomes denial instead. In addition, the hypocrisy heightens when Hannah-Jones begins to describe the situation of one of the Northern cities, New York. “The New York City school board, at the behest of white parents, is gerrymandering attendance zones so that white kids can remain in white schools and black kids will be funneled to black schools. And there is a distinct difference between the schools that black and white kids attend” (Hannah-Jones). Not only are the schools still radically segregated, but there is an intense attempt to keep it the way it is due to a resistance to change. White communities are refusing to integrate and black communities continue to be faced with backlash from the new legislation. Furthermore, students in the African American community are faced with drawbacks in their quality of education. “So to keep schools white, you have to keep white schools partially empty. Meanwhile, the black population is rising. And so they are stuffing black kids into black schools. And some of the schools in black neighborhoods become so crowded that they begin to send black kids to schools in shifts.” The problem here is again, a resistance to change. Black students supposedly nowhave the given right to receive the same quality of education that white students have. But to what extent did they truly want to desegregate? There is such a dramatic shift towards preventing integration that there is an influx of opinions — however it seems to lean over on the side of hesitancy, as there were many aspects to combine students of the two races together, but a large amount of backlash as well.

So What? A couple of points from Nicole Hannah-Jones, “The Problem We All Live With” stood out to me. One of the points is when she speaks about the shooting of Michael Brown and the reactions of the aftermath of his mother. The first thing that his mother thought of after he was killed was that he was unable to get through school successfully. “A police officer has just killed her oldest child. It has to be the worst moment of her life, but of all the ways she could have expressed her grief and outrage, this is what was on her mind — school, getting her son through school” (Hannah-Jones). This just goes to show how difficult it is for the African American community to stay in school, let alone graduate. The weight of a student dropping from school is heavier than losing a life, which truly paints a picture on the reality of some marginalized communities. I thought this quotation was quite shocking, because many of us who are privileged enough to stay and school and graduate often take this perspective of our lives for granted. For many, it is not possible to do so, as shown through this statement.

Moving onto the next point, children are not being prepared before entering schools. As Hannah-Jones explains, “The other thing about most segregated black schools, Nikole says, is that they have high concentrations of children who grew up in poverty. Those kids have greater educational needs. They’re more stressed out. They have a bunch of disadvantages. And when you put a lot of kids like that together in one classroom, studies show, it doesn’t go well.” There is not only a racial disparty, but an economical one that is out of the students’ control. To put it simply, it is just an unfair situation. Students who have a greater need for assistance do not receive enough, which puts their future at stake for reasons outside of their power.

Now What? My community partner, NGS, strives to close the educational gap between underrepresented communities in Marin County. They provide quality education for all students, regardless of ethnicity or race. Marin County is home of high levels of racial disparity, which can reflect an aspect of “segregation” that Hannah-Jones speaks about. This racial inequity is a possible factor of different educational condtions that the youth who live here are exposed to. In one area, there are students struggling to read at their reading level. In the other, everything is as it should be. There should be equal opportunity for every student and NGS is one of the institutions that fights for this right.