c. 2003 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J., and a fellow of the George H. Gallup International Institute in Princeton, N.J.)

(UNDATED) On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown vs. Board of Education that “in the field of public education the doctrine of `separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Thus did the court open the door to what many African-Americans hoped would be equal access to quality public education and upwardly mobile employment.

Nearly 50 years later, however, the promise of Brown remains unfulfilled and many blacks have abandoned the public schools, opting for private education or even home schooling.

That so important a legal decision would have so little impact on the plaintiffs and their race is a cautionary tale for people of all races.

For many in the black community, the Brown decision marks the beginning of what would be known as “the civil rights era.” Rendered in two decisions, in 1954 and 1955, the ruling was actually a compilation of class action suits brought by black plaintiffs against the states of Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware.

Though premised by different situations and circumstances, at issue, as Chief Justice Earl Warren noted in his opinion, was a “common legal question. … In each of the cases, minors of the Negro race, through their legal representatives, seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a nonsegregated basis. In each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race. This segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment.”

At stake for the defendants was the fate of the nearly 60-year-old decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which permitted states to legally enforce segregation as long as the law did not make facilities for blacks inferior to those of whites. Hence, the cry of “separate but equal,” though the phrase did not appear in Plessy, became a rallying point for states determined to exercise their desire to separate the races.

In finding for the plaintiffs in Brown, the court noted while there was evidence inequities in “tangible factors,” such as buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers were being addressed by the defendants, the court’s decision must turn on “the effect of segregation itself on public education.” In doing so, it determined that the very fact of segregation produced a negative psychological effect on the black children. Hence the phrase “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Yet, as has been well documented, neither the decision nor the legal and moral arguments that prompted it had an immediate, positive impact on the nation’s racial climate. In fact, the opposite has proven true. The ordered pace of desegregation mandated by the Supreme Court in its 1955 Brown II decision, “with all deliberate speed,” has become a national joke as communities around the country continue to this day to resist through gerrymandering of school districts.

Equally important is the effect that economic and demographic changes have had on the nation’s public schools in the years since Brown.

For example, white flight _ the abandonment of the nation’s urban centers by white businesses and middle-class homeowners _ had the effect of promoting urban poverty through the reduction of the cities’ collective tax base. This had an inevitable impact on urban schools, as in many instances school programs were cut, schools closed and qualified teachers laid off. While government grants and strong teacher unions have done much to provide targeted funding for needed programs, equip new schools and increase the standing of educators, other factors such as unemployment, gang violence and crime remain resistant to change.

It is within this context that “black flight” from urban neighborhoods and, in particular, urban public schools is taking place. As the ranks of the black middle class continue to expand, many parents are choosing either to move to the suburbs, where public education is better, or pursue other educational options for their children, such as prep schools or home schools, while remaining in the city.

Thus, nearly 50 years after the Supreme Court’s decision, its legacy remains mixed. Perhaps the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute put it best: “Desegregated schools send a message of victory to the black community, that of equal protection under the law. However, community support of school desegregation as well as the attitudinal makeup of the individual and the influence of his family and peers are important factors that influence whether or not a child feels a sense of power.”

DEA END ATCHISON