One More River to Cross

"One More River to Cross" Recognizing the Real Injury in Brown: A Prerequisite to Shaping New Remedies

Charles Lawrence argues that we should evaluate the success of Brown vs. the board of
education he doesn’t only want us to evaluate the success but, instead where brown has left us as stated on page 281 in the introduction. Lawrence wants the people to see how children of color are affected by segregation. I did some research on the topic just to get a better background on it. I found that there are five cases under the one title of Brown vs. the board of education. All five cases have to do with colored students who were denied admission into a white “public place”.
The point that Brown was trying to make was that schools segregating children is unequal, which is goes against the fourteenth amendment. The Warren Court basically focused on segregation in schools, which is not the only point. Brown was not only trying to make the point that segregation was bad in schools, but also for a colored person trying to function in society. “By focusing on the effect of school segregation rather than it’s purpose the Warren Court confused the issue and led us to look to separation as the sole source of black children’s feelings of inferiority rather than at the larger institution of which segregated schools were only a small part.” (p283) It’s not the fact that the children were separated from the white children, it was the fact that they were labeled inferior. Under the fourteenth amendment the colored children should have the same opportunities as the white children but since they were labeled as inferior, the self esteem is gone and the encouragement for learning is missing. “Once blacks are labeled as inferior, they are denied access to equal societal opportunities. The resulting inadequate educational preparation , poverty of cultural backgrounds, and lack of experience constitute real limitations on their ability to contribute to society, and the prophecy of their inferiority is fulfilled.” (p286)
On page 286 Lawrence also asks “where do we proceed from here?” He believes that the courts inability to see what segregation is doing the children has made everything unsuccessful. Lawrence talks about how we must find a “remedy” for all this; “Following the rule that the remedy must match the injury, judges have ordered that schools be desegregated if there has been evidence of school segregation, that Blacks be given access to housing if there has been proof of discriminatory real estate practices, that Blacks be given jobs if there is sufficient evidence of discriminatory employment practices, and that states that have engaged in practices denying Blacks the vote cease and desist from engaging in those practices.” (287) For all these things to happen segregation as a whole needed to be abolished.
What we can do about this is, as future educators our job is stated on page 289, “The traditional role of all schooling throughout history has been to prepare young people for the roles they will assume in society.” If we have a segregated system how are we supposed to abide by the fourteenth amendment and give everyone equal opportunity putting, race, gender, religion, etc, to the side? Some people aren't very privileged and are stuck in the projects or a bad community. Most bad communities have poor school systems and what they get out of school is what is going to prepare them for the future.This court case has come a long way and it wasn’t easy for most young black children. Things have gotten better in our society but I will quote from the packet yet again, “There will always be one more river to cross” (281)

White Swim In Racial Preference
In this article Tim Wise states that we have made an effort to produce equal oppurtunities but the equality given to people of color is actually not equal. "Privilege, to us, is like water to the fish: invisible precisely because we cannot imagine life without it." (p. 2of 3)
What he is saying here is that we have so many privileges that we don't realize it, but when they're taken away to give someone else a chance at privilege people get angry.
He also talks about points that are given to students who attend college. The University of Michigan awarded only 20 points to students of color out of 150 points! "Michigan awards 20 points to any student from a low-income background,regardless of race. Since these poins cannot be combinede with those for minority status (in other words blacks don't get 40 points), in effect this is a preference for poor whites" (p.2)
This is an example where they try to make it look good that they are awarding points to people of color but in the long run a poor white person is able to get more points than a poor black person. Students who can't get points or help to go to college have trouble staying in school because they need to work to make more money and often times can't complete college so therefore, segregation comes into affect yet again, and the black people are working lower class jobs.
White people don't realize what privileges they have until they have lived in someone elses shoes. What we need to do is realize what we have and help other achieve success in our society. We can't just hand things over, I think everyone needs to work hard if you want to make it in society. If you shun people from getting the oppurtunity to work hard, and they have the intention too, then we need to change our system. There are people out there who truly want to make it, and make something of themselves. However, they will never get out of the projects or working a low income job if things do not change and if people don't realize the privleges that they really do have it will take a very long time for change.