The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case was focused on providing an equitable education for all students. As Judge Warren stated, “Segregated schools were inherently unequal.”
During the 1950s there was a clear difference in resources between segregated schools with black students receiving fewer resources and being placed in less quality facilities than white students. Sixty-five years after the Brown v. Board decision, schools are becoming re-segregated.
What is not highlighted from the 1954 decision are the many black teachers who lost jobs because the schools were closed and the experiences that left some students of color feeling segregated in their white institutions. Equality then and now was in the treatment, which is based on beliefs and the mindset of the educators teaching a diverse student body.
After legislation, significant training in equity and inclusion did not occur systemically, and lesser-quality facilities and resources were replaced with less access to high quality, challenging experiences within an integrated facility.
Why are schools in the 21st century re-segregating by race?
The answer can be found by looking at the deeper issues of housing patterns, economic opportunities for families of color and institutionalized racism inherent in the criminal justice system that relegates large numbers of black men and families to poverty. The percentage of men and women of color compared to the overall population of people of color in most cities demonstrates a pattern of incarcerating people of color at higher rates, which is a system of oppression and a tool to maintain a large impoverished community. Studies in Missouri highlighted how unpaid tickets, overdue fines, truancy and discipline were some of the non-felony offenses used to incarcerate the poor.
Segregation today is no longer an outgrowth from laws that enforced separate schools by race. Segregation in schools by race today is due in part to laws that reduce economic opportunity and enforce poor communities clustered through housing patterns. In the 1950s, redlining defined where people of color lived, and today it is no longer needed because it happens naturally due to segregated, high-poverty communities being concentrated in certain parts of the city.
What can educators do? Educators can address mindsets, increase rigorous academic opportunities, graduate more students who are critical thinkers and create a pipeline of economic opportunities for every student.
High dropout rates in any community feeds high crime and poverty rates and ultimately results in segregated communities. Those who can move do move.
Harlem, which was a high poverty and high crime area 65 years ago, has improved schools over the last 20 years and increased college admissions. The community is now facing gentrification because the poor cannot afford to live in Harlem. As new, expensive homes replaced poor communities, poor communities were clustered to areas they could afford, causing schools in those areas to become re-segregated.
Cities across the United States face the same issue with the majority of poor communities being in one area that families can afford. Section 8 housing is clustered in areas of the city, causing families to live and send their children to schools there. The high poverty rates, school segregation and housing patterns have a positive correlation, and those factors are fueled by economic conditions affecting adversely communities of color.
Viewing school segregation from a racial perspective rather than an economic and equity perspective limits our understanding.
Educational leaders can provide culturally responsive training that includes academic, social and emotional components to how we think and act. Naturally, people gravitate towards others who have similar experiences. Beverly Daniel Tatum, describes this well in her book “Why are all Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”
In St. Louis, my hometown, I served as the supervisor for desegregation as part of my role as an assistant superintendent. Students were less successful and parents less involved in many cases in schools in St. Louis County that were involved in the desegregation program. While many students were successful, the majority in the 1990s had lower standardized test scores and lower participation in advanced placement courses in integrated settings because they were not given the same opportunities and challenging curricula. Implicit bias was an issue that faced all educators, and the lack of training impacted outcomes.
We can make a significant impact by courageously dismantling systems that keep black and brown children from advanced placement classes, increasing the rigor in all schools for all students, and making compensation and placement of teachers in higher poverty communities a priority. Educators must seek to end the segregated practices that reduce the academic challenge and access to opportunities that all students deserve.
Tiffany Anderson is superintendent of the Topeka Public School District.
