Talking Points #7 - "One More River to Cross" -- Recognixing the Real Injury in Brown: A Prerequisite to Shaping New Remedies

by Charles Lawrence

The author argues that the Brown decision blinded many Americans from the existence of racism in our country. The only way to remedy the situation, is by first, recognizing this fact; only then can we begin to make this ruling as effective as it should have been decades ago.

• "The mere placement of black and white children in the same school does not remove the brand imprinted by years of segregation."

Because the physical separation was never the cause of the harm inflicted upon black school children, integrating whites with blacks would not be the solution. Due to the fact that it was the label of inferiority experienced by black students that was the major source of hurt and discomfort, a solution cannot be found without the removal of the label.

• "Once it is understood that segregation functions as a systemic labeling device, it should be clear that any state action that results in the maintenance of the segregated system is a direct and proximate cause of the injuries suffered by black children in segregated schools and is in violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment."

Not only is segregation in the schools a violation to this amendment, but zoning practices and segregated housing as well. While experiencing this discrimination, blacks are being labeled, "not fit to live with," and "not fit to go to school with," but they are all ways of blatantly labeling blacks as inferior.

• "The injury inflicted by a segregated school system is inseparable from the injury inflicted by segregated housing or public accommodations because each reinforces the other and because the removal of one will not heal the injury without the removal of the others."

It is the segregation within the school system that initiates the feeling of inferiority among black students, but there is more. They also feel it when they realize that they can only live in certain parts of town or can only use one bathroom or sit in the "colored" train car in public. All of these individual acts help to make black children feel inferior, and so all must be remedied in order to reverse the affect.

Schooling, for the most part, is preparation for a child's future, a means for teaching a child how to be a successful and active participant in society. But segregation was a means for labeling a black child, or person, as inferior, therefore denying them access to equal opportunities in society. Because of the inadequate education they received, as well as the poor cultural backgrounds they experienced due to housing segregation, their ability to be a successful and contributing member of society is limited, therefore, living up to the feeling, and the label, of inferiority. However, to integrate schools, to raise more funds or to change the curriculum is not enough. Those with the power of privilege raise and prepare their own children to assume similar roles of power in society. However, black students will always be perceived as being "less qualified" until there are more black teachers preparing them, and until some of the positions the students are being prepared for are filled with black people.

This article was a bit tedious for me to read, but it was filled with some interesting points and I am glad that I read it. I really liked a quote toward the end of the article and thought that it helped to sum up some of Lawrence's thoughts.

• "It will not be enough that we are more articulate and imaginative in our pleadings and prayers for relief. The oppressor's understanding of his oppression is limited by self-interest, and ultimately we must find ways to make our oppression operate against the self-interest of those in power."