Instead of a Fake "Brown," How About a Real "Plessy"?

by Clay Burell

categories: Education Politics, Student Rights

Published June 10, 2009 @ 04:27PM PT

Oh, that bedeviling difference between de jure and de facto: On the Forum for Education and Democracy blog, Gloria Ladson-Billings takes on our national pride in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling by arguing it is, de facto, a case of national cant and hypocrisy - and hazards a modest proposal that, since we don't have the national will to make Brown v. Board a reality, we "progress backwards," as it were, by at least accomplishing the "equal" part of the "separate but equal" provision of Plessy v. Ferguson. A taste:

In its 1896 decision, Plessy v Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court said that as long as Blacks had access to equal public facilities, there was no need for them to have access to the same facilities that Whites did.  This remained the law of the land until 1954, when the Court reversed itself in the landmark unanimous decision, Brown v Board of Education of Topeka. "In the field of public education,” the Court wrote, “the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place."

However, the real life, on-the-ground enactment of desegregated, equal access to public education remains more of a promise than a reality. My thesis was that it would be better to have a “real Plessy” than to continue with a “fake Brown.”  Now, to be sure, no one is suggesting that Brown was not a significant step forward in race relations in the country. My point is merely that Brown, left unimplemented, does not move us anywhere near the equitable education we need and claim to endorse.

A real Plessy would mean that across this country, Black, Latina/o, American Indian, poor and immigrant students would have the same facilities as their White, middle-income peers. They would have a profession of teachers with the wisdom, qualifications and skills needed to provide high-quality instruction – not a “force” of novice teachers who, although eager, are unprepared and under-prepared to teach. They would have access to the same curricula and courses. They would have the same educational materials—textbooks, technology, science laboratory supplies, and fine arts supplies. And they would have the same funding to provide for their schooling.

Brown was a great moral victory. We needed it to remind us of who we strive to be as a democratic nation.  Until we fulfill its promise, however, the Brown decision is nothing more than a symbol—a testament to missed opportunities and broken promises. Similarly, the recent election of President Barack Obama represents a powerful symbol of hope and possibility in our nation. But the reality of difficult problems means we cannot afford the luxury of a symbolic presidency. We need this moment of hope to mean something to the educational futures of millions of students throughout the nation. (Read the rest...)