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In an effort to help the community
understand current basic concerns about civil rights, we have published
the following Civil Rights in Brief which summarize
these issues and can help you learn what you can do to protect them.
The Supreme Court in 1954 decided in Brown v.
Board of Education that legally mandated segregated schools
were no longer acceptable. The main finding of the court was that
"separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
This decision was the first step in a long struggle to reverse the
exclusion and discrimination towards African Americans. It would
take two decades to bring down the walls of separation and move
towards true integration.
Today the principles of the Brown decision
are eroding with increasing economic and racial isolation in schools.
More than forty years after Brown, segregation creeps its
way back into our schools. Segregation is a term we tend to associate
with a time gone by, yet the national trend indicates that we are
in many ways moving backwards in time.
The South has always had the highest proportion of
black students. This region also had the most rigid system of legal
segregation so it was in the South that the most aggressive desegregation
plans were implemented following the Brown decision. The 1964 Civil
Rights Act and a series of subsequent decisions by the Supreme Court
intensified integration efforts in the South, ended the delay of
desegregation plans, and authorized busing. The South became the
nation’s most integrated region for whites and blacks by 1970
and has been since. This progress was stalled when Reagan-Bush administration
policy changes and judicial appointments in the late 1980’s
through 1990’s would bring enforcement of desegregation to
a pause and challenge implementation of new plans. Integration efforts
in the South were stable for decades but the South is now the region
of the country resegregating the fastest.
A study entitled "Resegregation
in American Schools" by The Civil Rights Project finds
that the percent of black students in majority white schools peaked
in the early 1980’s and declined to the levels of the 1960’s
by the 1996-1997 school year. The judicial policies of the 1990’s
set the stage for accelerating erosion of the vision of Brown with
increasing segregation in schools. Ironically, this cutting away
of the principles of Brown comes at a time when the country’s
minority population is growing rapidly. Latinos, who are becoming
the largest minority group in the country, are the most severely
segregated, most intensely in the Northeast. In the West, where
Latinos are a dominant minority group, 77% of Latino children are
in predominantly minority schools.
Latinos and blacks are moving into the suburbs in
large numbers, but are usually moving into segregated schools. Metropolitan
and urban segregation has been enabled by school policies such as
the drawing of attendance zones or the construction of schools serving
residentially segregated areas. In addition, many northern and Midwestern
metropolitan areas have dozens of separate school districts, making
it more difficult for desegregation plans to include large areas.
Patterns indicate that African Americans and Latinos in metropolitan
areas are often in school districts that make desegregation infeasible
and segregation an accepted part of community life. Data from 1996-1997
shows that blacks and Latinos living in suburbs of big cities have
an average non-white enrollment of between 60% and 64%.
Many critics question the need to uphold desegregation.
Is it important for a minority child to sit next to a white child?
The fact is that students in racially isolated and minority schools
are also likely to be segregated by class and income. Racially isolated
schools for all groups except whites are usually schools with high
concentrations of poverty. Segregated black or Latino schools are
11 times more likely to experience concentrated poverty. Concentrated
poverty levels are profoundly related to educational inequalities
and lower educational achievement. Schools with high poverty concentrations
have lower school test score averages, few advanced courses, fewer
teachers with credentials, inferior courses and levels of competition,
and send fewer graduates on to college.
The consequences of attending unequal schools are
alarming in this period when college admissions standards are rising,
mandatory tests are being implemented, remedial courses are being
cut, and affirmative action is being eliminated.
Unitary status is the idea that a desegregation plan
has effectively ended a segregated school system and has created
a "unitary" system under which unequal schooling for minorities
and whites has been eliminated. Some courts have tended to grant
unitary status even when it is clear that a dual system of education
still exists, saying that everything practical has been done. The
Supreme Court’s rulings in the 1990’s have in effect
restored local control, and reduced implementation of the principles
of Brown to the good faith of school districts. However, local school
districts have historically not placed desegregation on their list
of priorities. Left to voluntarily implement desegregation plans,
local districts often opt to spend money on "separate but equal"
alternatives. School districts declared "unitary" often
choose to return to segregated schools in the name of educational
improvement and increased opportunity for minority students. Some
courts have gone further, forbidding school districts that are unitary
to maintain any explicit desegregation policies.
As many schools move towards resegregation, local
officials and leaders offer nostalgic ideals of "neighborhood
schools" to better serve and educate minority children. Although
there are isolated instances where neighborhood schools and compensatory
programs have positive effects for minorities, overwhelmingly the
evidence indicates that such schools are low performing. They are
the most segregated schools, though not labeled as such, severely
limiting the options and opportunities for minority students. Once
a district has been declared unitary, the court relinquishes control
and the local government assumes responsibility for the condition
of schools. It is expected that the local government will see to
the equal distribution of opportunity for all students.
Voluntary implementation of desegregation plans is
the remaining recourse to maintain racial integration. However,
voluntary actions aimed at maintaining integration are being challenged
nation wide. For example, the Boston Public Schools were challenged
by white parents claiming that the city’s voluntary policies
to keep the prestigious Boston Latin magnet school integrated discriminated
against their daughter and the plan was forbidden. Likewise, in
San Francisco, facing a suit by Chinese Americans who were denied
admission to the magnet school Lowell and two elementary schools,
the district agreed to phase out its 15 year-old court approved
desegregation plan, which said that a school could have no more
than 45 percent of any one racial or ethnic group. The district
agreed to stop assigning students on the basis of race, but would
seek other means of maintaining diversity.
- If your local school is under law suit, get the community involved
using the lawsuit as an educational tool. This can be accomplished
by writing op-eds, and showing up for press conferences, court
dates, and rallies. Community groups can provide attorneys with
important information on the day to day realities of the educational
system.
- Use petitions as an organizing and educational tool on various
education issues. Petition drives provide an opportunity to educate
people, get them involved, and/or influence their opinions on
education issues.
- Community groups and educational leaders must play an active
role in challenging districts as declaration of unitary status
is pursued. Unitary status eliminates many rights of minority
students. In cases where it is granted these groups must monitor
the resulting actions so that local officials do not make costly
irreversible mistakes.
- Examine the effects of segregated schools and push for specific
definitions of educational equality and good faith compliance
by school districts. Advocates must insist that the actual results
of new policies be evaluated independently and real provisions
of opportunities be made for minorities. In addition, advocates
should challenge school officials to provide professional leadership
for the effective improvement of schools.
- Recognize the critical link between housing segregation and
school segregation. Include segregation in the housing market
as part of the negotiations on education with community leaders.
In addition, involve fair housing groups in the discussions around
education.
- Suggest that integrated neighborhoods be rewarded, recognizing
the positive impact that this has on school desegregation. In
addition, advocates for civil rights should be sensitive to the
growing problems of suburban segregation and development of unequal
schools.
- Monitor the media’s coverage; it should focus on what
actually happens in segregated schools supported by evidence.
As an important information and educational source for the public,
it is crucial that the press be forced to look at the actual consequences
of policy changes.
- Engage the media to amplify the voice of the community and exert
pressure on policy makers. Media can be used for a campaign or
to bring attention to an event. For example, a community group
may send out press releases in order to attract media to attend
a rally in opposition to the closing of a school or may attract
the attention of a journalist to write a story about a broad issue.
Having concrete examples is important in gaining media attention.
Media frequently give far more attention to minority opponents
of integrated education than to supporters and this should be
challenged.
If you are interested in ordering a bound, hard copy
of The Civil Rights Project’s recently released report, "Resegregation
in American Schools," please e-mail us at crp@harvard.edu.
Mention this brochure and we will send you a copy for half price
(regular price: $10.00, special rate: $5.00). Or you can get
it for free in PDF format under our School Desegregation research
section.
You may also download "Resegregation
in American Schools" in PDF Format. 
Last updated 8/16/99
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