[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 143 (Tuesday, September 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S12048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DESEGREGATION OF LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today the Nation celebrates the 50th 
anniversary of the court order requiring desegregation of Little Rock 
Central High School. It was a case that shocked the Nation with its 
graphic illustration of the horrors of Jim Crow and the very real 
limits it placed on the educational opportunities of millions of 
American children. On September 25, 1957, the Little Rock Nine were 
finally allowed to enter their classrooms, but only with the aid of 
Federal troops.
  Although the students were enrolled that day, the actual process of 
desegregating Little Rock High School took far longer. These courageous 
young students had to endure taunts and abuse from their White 
classmates, and late night phone calls threatening violence against 
their families. They realized they carried the weight of their 
communities' futures on their young shoulders.
  The effort to fully integrate the Nation's schools continued long 
after these first African-American students graduated, and it was not 
until this year that a court declared the school district fully 
integrated. This process of racially integrating America's public 
schools was repeated, if in less dramatic ways, throughout the Nation 
in the 1960s and 1970s.
  The 50th anniversary is a reminder that the Nation has sacrificed a 
great deal to achieve integration, and with great success. Since the 
historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the march of 
progress has brought the Nation closer to its high ideals of liberty 
and justice for all. The struggle for equal educational opportunity has 
been at the heart of that march of progress, because education is the 
key to achieving true opportunity in all areas of American society. 
Education is a powerful force for increasing economic opportunity, 
combating residential segregation, exercising the right to vote, and 
fully integrating all our people into the fabric of American life.
  When Robert Kennedy served as Attorney General, the effort to 
desegregate schools was one of his most important priorities, because 
he understood so well that in the context of segregation, justice 
delayed is justice denied.
  In the past half century, we have come far, but hardly far enough. 
Civil rights is still the unfinished business of America. In many 
schools, formal integration has not brought full equality in the 
classroom. The troubling reports of racial violence and discriminatory 
discipline in Jena, LA, are an appalling current example, in which 
White students hung nooses in a schoolyard tree set off months of 
racial tension. But integration has been incomplete in less dramatic 
ways as well. Too often, for example, the tracking of students into 
advanced courses has tended to reflect racial stereotypes and preserve 
racial divisions.
  From the 1980s to the present, we have also seen a new movement that 
has sought to undermine civil rights progress. Some have adopted the 
rhetoric of the civil rights movement to undermine its progress, often 
using the same strategies developed by civil rights leaders in the 
battle against Jim Crow. We see that result in efforts to have the 
courts undo landmark civil rights decisions.
  Fortunately, the Supreme Court has declined recent invitations to 
turn back the clock on educational diversity and integration. Although 
the Court has found fault with some school integration plans such as in 
Seattle and Jefferson County, KY, its decision made clear that schools 
can continue to strive for racially inclusive classrooms, and that the 
door is still open for continued progress.
  As a practical matter, it is up to individual educators, parents, 
school districts to make the promise of equal educational opportunity a 
reality. Achieving genuine integration and full equality in education 
takes more than a court decision. It takes good will, vision, 
creativity, common sense, and a firm commitment to the goal of 
educating all children, regardless of race. Above all, it takes a 
realistic assessment in each local community to determine what will 
work to bring students together.
  That challenge is difficult to meet, but the benefits are enormous. 
Diversity in education benefits all students, and the Nation too. In 
our diverse society, it is vitally important for children to develop 
interactions and understanding across racial and cultural lines. Our 
economic future depends on our ability to educate all children to 
become productive members of society. That view is widely shared. 
Leaders of the military community and the business community have made 
clear that a diverse and highly educated workforce is important to 
their success, too.
  The court order to integrate Little Rock High School helped lay the 
foundation for subsequent civil rights decisions and gave an immense 
boost to the civil rights movement. We have come a long way since that 
historic decision. But the struggle to fulfill Brown's promise 
continues today. This anniversary is an important reminder of the work 
still to be done to achieve true equality in education for the Nation's 
children.

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