Via Nappy
65 years after “separate but equal” was struck down in court, Black students are STILL forced into underfunded, overcrowded schools! How did we get here?
One reason is lawmakers figured they’d only need to enforce desegregation for a few years, and afterward everyone would realize diversity and equality were good things!
Of course, that’s not what happened. White people protested, found loopholes, sent their kids to private schools, and otherwise resisted desegregation.
The bill mandating desegregation was underfunded, and ignored segregated neighborhoods, in-school discrimination, and how schools are funded.
It got even worse when Richard Nixon decided to stop enforcing desegregation, followed by lawmakers cutting off federal funding for bussing programs. As a result, everything eventually went back to how it was - but worse.
Today’s situation is grim: public schools are more segregated than ever, and Black schools are struggling. White families send their kids to private schools, stripping resources from local schools, and Black teachers are rare, meaning Black students get unequal treatment from teachers, too.
Even within “integrated” schools, segregation still occurs via tracking - white students are much more likely to be classified as “gifted,” and take advanced level classes like APs.
Many of our children are still going to segregated, underfunded, unfair schools. We have to fight for a true solution to separate and unequal schooling for our kids!