August 2024: Brown vs. Board of Education, 70 Years Later

Happy August! If you've been attending CWC for some time… perhaps you’ve experienced summer with new awareness of the impact of racism or noticed inequities that have brought new questions and reflections to light. And if you are newer to CWC or haven’t attended in a while… perhaps the approaching “back to school” season will further inspire your desire to connect and learn with this community.

Inspired by our recent conversations on decolonization and Dr. Durryle Brooks’ “body inventory” (checking in on how we’re doing physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually), this month we want to look at school segregation 70 years after the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.

On May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. This historic decision marked the end of the "separate but equal" precedent set by the Supreme Court nearly 60 years earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson. 

Certainly, strides have been made. And yet a recent research study has found that in the past 30 years, Schools have become more segregated in communities with large public school districts even as neighborhoods have become more racially mixed and as economic inequality between racial groups has declined. 

This context feeds our minds on intellectual or academic levels. And, returning to Dr. Brooks’ more holistic approach, we wish to feed our physical, spiritual and emotional selves as well. As such, our August discussion prompt invites us to reflect on two education focused images - one from the immediate aftermath of Brown v. Board where Black children are escorted to a desegreated school and one from recent months at a local school board meeting. 

We are purposefully providing little context for both images so can reflect not only on our reactions to the images, but also any assumptions we make about the images. Here are a few prompts that can help guide your reflection:

1. What feelings are coming up for me as I look at these images?

2. What physical reactions do these images evoke for me? For example, neck tension, gut churning, etc.

3. How do I relate to the people in these images? Do I see myself?

4. What similarities do you notice between the two images? Differences?

5. How can I tend to my spiritual self in response to reflecting on these images?

School segregation and “parent’s choice” can stir deep emotions and complexity.  Our hope is that in tapping into holistic reflection on this topic, we can start to unravel the nuance and connect more deeply with our antiracism values. And of course, we hope that by reflecting together, we will be more apt to have these conversations with others in our lives. 

As always, if the prompt doesn’t inspire you, join us for a conversation anyway and talk about whatever is on your mind and heart.We look forward to seeing you soon!

P.S. Check out this interactive map that researchers, Reardon and Owens, created that allows users to see school integration and segregation trends in their communities.

“Touring a segregated America - forever being stopped and harassed by white cops hurt you most 'cos you don't realise the damage. You hold it in. You feel empty, like someone reached in and pulled out your guts. You feel hurt and dirty, less than a person.” - B. B. King, American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer