[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 73 (Friday, May 21, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6081-S6082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to commemorate the 50th 
anniversary of the landmark 1954 civil rights decision of Brown v. 
Board of Education. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that the 
Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment prohibits States 
from maintaining racially segregated public schools.
  In Brown, the Court upheld the principle that America is a land of 
laws, not men.
  In Brown, the Court affirmed that equality, fairness, and justice are 
for all Americans, irrespective of race, ethnicity, color, or creed.
  The Supreme Court found that the segregation of white and black 
children in public schools denied black children the equal protection 
of the laws guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment.
  The Court reached this decision even if the physical facilities and 
other ``tangible'' factors of white and black schools were equal.
  Of course, we all know that the facilities and resources were far 
from being equal.
  It took courage on the part of the nine Justices of the U.S. Supreme 
Court to reverse the so-called ``separate but equal'' precedent that 
the Court had created in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
  The Plessy decision concerned a 30-year-old shoemaker named Homer 
Plessy who had been jailed for sitting in the ``White'' car of the East 
Louisiana Railroad. Plessy was only one-eighth black and seven-eighth 
white, but under Louisiana law, he was considered black and therefore 
required to sit in the ``Colored'' car.
  In Plessy, the Supreme Court found that laws requiring separate black 
and white railroad cars did not conflict with the thirteenth amendment 
which abolished slavery.
  The Court held that ``a statute which implies merely a legal 
distinction between the white and colored races has no tendency to 
destroy the legal equality of the two races.'' Consequently, the 
noxious notion of ``separate but equal'' took root in America.
  The lone dissenter in the Plessy case, Justice John Harlan, wrote, 
``Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates 
classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are 
equal before the law.'' Justice Harlan was a half-century ahead of his 
time.
  After years of arguing discrimination cases throughout the Nation, a 
team of NAACP lawyers, led by Thurgood Marshall, brought five case from 
Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington DC to the 
Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall--one of the giants of American 
history--stood before the Supreme Court determined to rid this Nation 
of a ``failure of our constitutional system.''
  In Brown, the Court ruled that in the United States and under the 
U.S. Constitution, ``separate'' is inherently unequal.
  These words were profound then and there are equally profound today 
because when the Supreme Court struck down school legal segregation, it 
advanced the cause of human rights in America and set an example for 
all the world.
  I just visited the ``Separate and Unequal'' exhibit at the 
Smithsonian. I was struck by how one of the displays put it: the Brown 
decision told Americans and the world that ``the American dream of 
ethnic diversity and racial equality under the law is a dream of 
justice for all.''
  Although the Brown decision declared the system of legal segregation 
unconstitutional, the Court ordered only that the States end 
segregation with ``all deliberate speed.'' One dictionary definition of 
``deliberate'' is ``leisurely or slow in manner or motion.''
  This ambiguity over how to enforce the ruling gave segregationists an 
opportunity to organize what came to be called ``massive resistance.'' 
Many State officials in the South responded to the Brown decision by 
promising to use all legal means and resources under their command to 
prevent integration.
  In Prince Edward County, VA, for example--one of the cases decided in 
the Brown decision--the school district's response was to close the 
public schools in Farmville for 5 years, from 1959 to 1964. White 
students enrolled in private schools while a generation of black 
children was denied access to education.
  Over the 50 years since Brown, this Nation has continued to wrestle 
with issues of racial and ethnic equality.
  As I stand here today to pay homage to the Brown decision and the 
civil rights struggle, I feel compelled to ask, ``A half-century after 
Brown, how far have we come? Where we are today, and where are we 
headed?''
  Fifty years after the Brown decision, the struggle for equality has 
come to include not only racial and ethnic minorities, but also women, 
the disabled, and gays and lesbians. That is a promising development.
  We need only remember that it is only this week when the 
Massachusetts Supreme Court's order recognizing gay marriages is given 
the full effect of law.
  Since the 1954 Brown decision, we have made progress in the sense 
that Americans overwhelmingly repudiate discrimination and segregation.
  But while we no longer see the blatant vestiges of the segregationist 
era such as signs saying ``whites only'' or ``colored only,'' our 
society is still plagued by inequality and injustice.
  African Americans have yet to enjoy true racial equality in this 
Nation. And in the absence of real equality, African Americans are 
being denied the essence of what it means to be an American.
  Statistics are the clearest barometer for measuring our progress and 
far too many of them reveal that African Americans continue to lag 
behind whites in important ways.
  In April 2004, the Nation's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent for 
whites; for blacks, it was 9.7 percent.
  In 2002, the poverty rate was 12.1 percent nationwide; for blacks, it 
was 22.7 percent.
  In 1999, median income for white families was $51,244; for black 
families, it was $31,778.
  Today, black men make up 41 percent of all prisoners, but only 4 
percent of all college and university students.
  African Americans are 13 percent of the population in my home State 
of New Jersey, but they constituted a staggering 63 percent of the 
State's prison population in 2002.
  The murder rate for whites is 3.3 per 100,000 people; for blacks, 
it's six times as high, 20.5 per 100,000 people.
  These statistics make it pretty clear that while we have come a long 
way from the blatant racism of ``separate but equal'' and the decision 
to close the Farmville public schools to prevent their integration, we 
still have a long way to go in making the dream of justice and equality 
for all Americans a living, breathing reality.
  As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, we need 
to rededicate ourselves to the civil rights struggle. As Teddy 
Roosevelt said, ``This country will not be a really good place for any 
of us to live in if it is not a really good place for all of us to live 
in.''
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr President, 50 years ago, our Nation set out to give 
every child the chance for excellence and equality in education. In a 
quote from the Brown decision in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court said, 
``Today education is perhaps the most important function of State and 
local governments . . . It is a principal instrument in awakening the 
child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional 
training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In 
these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to 
succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such 
an opportunity, where the State has undertaken to provide it, is a 
right, which must be made available to all on equal terms.'' We have 
made great progress in the past 50 years but we still have a long way 
to go.
  By fulfilling the promise of Brown, school systems have the ability 
to lay a great foundation for our Nation. Providing children with a 
high quality education, in a diverse classroom setting, gives our 
children the educational

[[Page S6082]]

tools which they need to succeed. Additionally, it provides them with 
an environment which will equip them with the necessary tools to become 
true leaders. The goals of Brown were to provide to all children, 
excellent schools which were as diverse as possible. The greatest gift 
that we can give our children is to ensure that they receive nothing 
less.
  Fifty years after Brown, its full promise remains unrealized. Public 
education in our country has become more and more separate. In 
Washington, DC, public schools, nearly all students are attending 
segregated, poor schools. For example, 2,455 students are attending 
12th grade. Of those, 121 are white, about 1,900 are black and the rest 
are primarily Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander. Of the white students, 
116 attend just three schools with 88 of those at just one school. This 
scenario is happening not only in our Nation's capital but across the 
Nation. In my State of Louisiana, public schools in the City of Monroe 
have 88 percent minority students, while the surrounding rural district 
has 71 percent white students.
  Not only are our schools more separate, but they are also more 
unequal. Since 1988, the minority achievement gap in our country has 
continued to grow. Nationally, African American and Latino 17-year-olds 
demonstrate reading and math skills that are virtually 
indistinguishable from white 13-year-olds. In my own State of 
Louisiana, there is a 42.9 point gap between the performance of African 
American students and their white peers. These statistics can be 
explained by many different variables. Poor and minority students are 
one-third more likely to be taught by an unqualified teacher than their 
peers. Students of color and low-income students do not receive 
curriculum and instruction that is as challenging or rigorous as other 
students. According to the U.S. Department of Education, less than a 
third of students from low-wealth families were enrolled in the college 
prep track, while two-thirds of students from high-wealth families were 
in college prep. What is worse, we have put educational funding on its 
head. In a majority of States, the more students of color you have, the 
less likely you are to receive State and local funds.
  The founding principle of No Child Left Behind was that all children 
can learn. There are hundreds of examples, many of which you will hear 
in commemoration of the Brown decision, to demonstrate this fact to be 
true. Centennial Place Elementary School in Atlanta, GA is 91 percent 
African American and 79 percent low-income and is in the top 10 percent 
of the entire State of Georgia in reading. Moreover, Centennial Place 
Elementary outscored 88 percent of other Georgia schools on the State's 
math test. In my home State of Louisiana, Claiborne Fundamental 
Elementary School has an 80 percent minority student body, 60 percent 
of which are in poverty. Yet they finished in the 94th percentile on 
LEAP testing and finished in the top 10 percent in closing the 
achievement gap. These are only a few examples of success in schools 
which support the principles of No Child Left Behind. For the first 
time, the Federal Government has rejected the bigotry of lower 
expectations and has required States and local school districts to do 
something about the growing gap of opportunity in our schools. If we 
are to realize the promise of Brown we must ensure that each and every 
child, regardless of race or income, has an opportunity to realize 
their potential.
  The links between all of these examples of success are 
accountability, full and equal funding, and teacher quality. If we can 
set clear, measurable goals for performance and continue to hold 
schools accountable for results, we can truly measure success and 
failure. Backlash against No Child Left Behind is in part because 
people are being forced to face the reality that gaps do exist. Under 
the old system, schools with huge gaps in the performance of their 
students were labeled as being successful. Nationally, 4th grade 
African Americans lag behind their white peers in reading, with 39 
percent of white students considered proficient but only 12 percent of 
black students. Things are similar in 8th grade mathematics, 36 percent 
of white students are labeled proficient, but only 7 percent of black 
students fall into the same category.
  While we continue to make schools accountable, we must also ensure 
that they are fully and equally funded. Over the past four years, Title 
I of No Child Left Behind has been underfunded by the President's 
Budget by $22.3 billion. In my State of Louisiana, that means that 135, 
962 disadvantaged children, 6,029 English-learners, and 62,977 
preschool children are left behind. We cannot continue to expect our 
schools to perform, if we do not give them the tools they need. This 
funding must also be equal. In 22 States, the highest poverty school 
districts receive less per-student funding from State and local sources 
than the lowest-poverty school districts. This is also true of the 
Nation as a whole. The top 25 percent of school districts in terms of 
child poverty nationwide receive less funding than the bottom 25 
percent. Similarly, in 28 States the local districts with the highest 
percentage of minority children receive less funding than districts 
with the fewest minority children.
  These increases in funding will go towards many different aspects of 
our children's education but also towards recruiting the best and the 
brightest teachers. The difference between an effective teacher and an 
ineffective teacher can be a whole grade level in school. In a recent 
study in Dallas, students who had the added value of a good teacher 3 
years in a row were scoring in the 76th percentile; while students who 
had a bad teacher 3 years in a row were performing in the 27th 
percentile. We can help recruit and retain quality teachers by 
increasing their opportunity for professional development, increasing 
the pay for teachers who work in high challenge areas, merit pay and 
bonuses for good teachers, and by increasing administrative and 
professional support for teachers in schools.
  The principles laid out in No Child Left Behind give our Nation the 
opportunity to fully realize the promise of Brown v. Board of 
Education. If we can continue to fund initiatives which encourage 
accountability and excellence for all students we can continue to close 
the achievement gap that plagues our Nation's schools. In 1960, four 
black 6-year-old girls were the first to integrate two white schools in 
my home town of New Orleans. These brave children set out as pioneers 
to create a school system in this country which was equal for all 
children regardless of race or religion. We must keep these children in 
our hearts as we set forth to make their dream truly a reality. On this 
50th commemoration of the Brown decision, I hope that my colleagues 
will join with me in ensuring that every child receives access to the 
same high quality education.

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