Desegregation or Deprivation

A milestone in American history marked the beginning of the dreams of African Americans finally being realized.
In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously outlawed segregation and declared that racially separate schools are unequal. This case, known as Brown v the Board of Education, overturned a previous decision, Plessy v Ferguson, that supported state-imposed segregation, as long as it was “separate but equal.”
Finally, blacks could go to the same restaurants, the same schools, receive the same education…Be treated with the same respect as everyone else. Finally.
But maybe, just maybe, instead of this decision realizing our dreams, perhaps it was actually the groundwork for nightmares to come.
The U. S. Supreme Court may have been able to force integration, but it has no power to force social acceptance. With the implementation of integration, strength in the black community has deteriorated over the years, and mayhem has erupted in school systems across the nation.
Blacks were thrown into a world that wasn’t ready for them. America was no longer separate, but it was still blatantly unequal. We were told we couldn’t learn, we shouldn’t aspire to be lawyers, doctors, and leaders of the corporate world. In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, this pillar of the black community recalls one of his favorite grade school teachers telling him he shouldn’t try to become a lawyer, but instead a carpenter, simply because he was black.
And this issue reaches well beyond the homes of blacks; it effects every corner of America. Even decades after the decision, the country is still struggling to “balance” the races in schools by bussing, redistricting, and more court cases.
I think America has missed the point.
The focus should be on making the schools academically equal, not racially equal. Creating hostile learning environments for blacks and whites is not bettering our education system; it’s tearing it down. And yanking children out of their neighborhood schools, their comfort zones, and flinging them into foreign territory can’t be healthy.
Instead of gelling America together with desegregation, the rift is widened with every court case, every hearing, and every forced attempt at unity.
Some would argue that desegregation is an attempt at equal education opportunities. Well, why not demand better education at the needy schools? Is it really necessary to abandon ship and run to the next best school? The same energy and efforts put forth for desegregation could be put forth to improve education for those schools lacking.
The courts cannot create one love in America; it’s up to the communities, the churches, and the parents across the country. It’s time to stop relying on “the system” to improve race relations. Let’s take time to instill the right virtues in our children, thus creating true unity instead of an illusion.