Resolution
1954 Decision |
Illinois Commission on the 50th Anniversary Brown Reconsidered - We Have Unfinished Business |
Plessy v Ferguson (t896) and Brown v Board (1954) addressed two egregious policies in The United States of America: inequality and segregation. Plessy stressed equality and maintained segregation. Brown stressed segregation and assumed that equality had been met by Plessy. In the end neither goal was met. Segregation and inequality are both based on two myths which characterize USA life: the myth of white superiority and the myth of black inferiority. While Brown considered the latter and Plessy protected the former, neither ordered the elimination of both. In addition, neither Plessy nor Brown provided for enforcement otitsorders. So after Plessy we continued to have schools which were unequal in resources and respect. Here in Illinois we are still plagued by this history. Illinois ranks 35th of 50 states and the District of Columbia on the a~equacy index, which measures how many students in the state have funding at or above the national average and how far the rest fall below that average. The state spends just above the national average on education at $7,407 per pupil in the 2000-2001 school year which is 7.1 percent increase from the previous year. Just under 28 percent of students in the state attend schools in districts where spending is at or above the U.S. average. Illinois spends less than the national average of total taxable resources on education, ranking 32ndOf the 50 states. The state spends 1 3.~ pbfcent of its resources on education. Illinois is the only state in Education Week's analysis made on January 8,2004 which received an F for equitY:; based on data from the 2000-2001 school year. One reason for the low grade is that the state contributes only a small share of total state and local funding for education or 40.2 percent. Illinois is.third from the bottom In its wealth-neutrality score, indicating that, on average there is a strong relationship between the wealth of a school district and the amount of state and local revenue it has for education. The state ranks second to last on the McLoone Index and 36th on the coefficient of variation" also indicating wide disparities in spending across districts. Illinois is not only in noncompliance with the desegregation order in Brown but also with the equity notions of Plessy. Illinois must fund its public schools to meet the equity provision. Born on 12/17/27 in the middle of J.im Crow I and two years before the Great Depression, I understand fully what Brown accomplished, the a~olition of state sponsored discrimination, protected lynching and brutality and daily humiliation of African American people, none of which is adequately represented in the present curriculum My family was forged t;>y this blatant and open enforcement of white supremacy. In them and in me it developed a spirit of struggle which is long distanced. Pathetic apathy in this present generation has replaced this spirit so dominant in that generation. Hopefully, this recommitment to Brown will-renew it. And where do we go from here? In order to produce a level playing field, the pr~v~leges,benefits ana advantages which accrue to ~eople because they are white must be dismantled. I do know that these benefits are not always solicited. Yet no longer should candidates for jobs in the universities be dismissed because they do not "fit." Merit should reign. Nor should the dumb children of the powerful be admitted because of their parents' donations or legacies. Presently, jobs in the university are distributed by kinship, friendship and politics. No longer should white families with an annual income of $37,500 receive home mortgages which $90,000 black families are denied. No longer should people be refused interviews for jobs because their names , are Lakeshia Washington or Jamal Jones instead of Emily Walsh or Brendan Baker. No longer should white ex-felons be able to acquire jobs denied to blacks to have never been convicted. No longer should laws be passed which treat blacks more harshly for the same crime when committed by whites such as the crack/coke laws. Nor should felons who have paid the price for their crimes be deprived of the vote to better protect whites' benefits, privileges and advantages. Other benefits accrue to those with white skins. Ask any of the millions of black people passing for white. They say the: biggest difference is that when they are white they are never suspect. This is a decided. advantage. Ask any black man who has encountered the police for no reason. We should not expect for whites to give up these advantages willingly. It will be a struggle but at last we will be concentrating on the right issue. We have unfinished business. Yes, a part of it is eliminating the achievement gap by funding education adequately. Illinois can certainly do better. But, additionally, the system of the receipt of unmerited and undeserved privileges, benefits and advantages which accrue to those who have white skins must be abolished. The twin myths which describe the American culture, white superiority and black inferiority, must forever be unraveled and destroyed.
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Illinois Commission on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education Contact: Executive Director Ollie McLemore |