[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 17, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2869-S2870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            62ND ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 62 years ago today, the Supreme Court 
issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down 
laws permitting racially segregated schools in 17 States and the 
District of Columbia.
  The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, the notorious 1896 decision 
that found racially segregated schools could be, ``separate but 
equal.'' The Court unanimously held that laws requiring racial 
segregation in schools violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th 
Amendment and recognized that equal access to education is a 
fundamental civil right. In the Brown v. Board opinion, Chief Justice 
Earl Warren wrote, ``in the field of public education, the doctrine of 
`separate but equal' has no

[[Page S2870]]

place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.''
  As I have said before, this historic decision was the most important 
Supreme Court decision of the 20th century--and perhaps of all time. 
Shortly after the decision, the New York Times published an editorial 
that stated: ``The Supreme Court's historic decision in the school 
desegregation cases brings the United States back into the mainstream 
of its own best traditions. Segregation is a hangover of slavery, and 
its ugliest manifestation has been in the schools.''
  While the Brown decision was a historic victory for equality, this 
anniversary is bittersweet. We have made great progress in the last 62 
years, but there is much work that remains to be done to create ``the 
more perfect union'' that our Constitution promises. Significant racial 
disparities persist in our schools, as well as our economy and our 
criminal justice system.
  Just last week, following a five-decade legal battle, a Federal 
district court judge ordered a school district in Mississippi to 
desegregate. In her opinion, Judge Debra Brown wrote that: ``[the 
school district's] delay in desegregation has deprived generations of 
students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an integrated 
education. Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the 
duty of the District to ensure that not one more student suffers under 
this burden.''
  It is shocking to consider that, six decades after the Brown 
decision, there is still resistance to the Court's mandate to 
desegregate our schools.
  We also continue to see efforts to make it more difficult for African 
Americans and other minorities to exercise the most fundamental 
constitutional right, the right to vote. Three years after the Brown v. 
Board of Education decision, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 
spoke at the Lincoln Memorial during a prayer pilgrimage to Washington.
  In a speech entitled ``Give Us the Ballot,'' Dr. King described the, 
``noble and sublime decision'' in Brown, as well as the massive 
resistance to enforcing the decision. Dr. King noted that: ``many 
states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the 
South ring loud with such words as `interposition' and `nullification.' 
But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to 
prevent [African-Americans] from becoming registered voters. The denial 
of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of 
our democratic tradition.''
  Dr. King knew that there was a vital connection between desegregation 
and the right to vote. Without Federal voting protections, African 
Americans would not have a voice in government to ensure that the 
Supreme Court's decision in Brown was fully implemented. He went on to 
say, ``our most urgent request to the President of the United States 
and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote. . . . 
Give us the ballot.''
  Eight years later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. For 
years, this landmark legislation was recognized as a great achievement. 
It was repeatedly reauthorized by large, bipartisan majorities in 
Congress. However, 3 years ago, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme 
Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. In a divided 5-4 vote, the Court 
struck down the provision that required certain jurisdictions with a 
history of discrimination to preclear changes to their voting laws with 
the Department of Justice.
  Since the decision, States like Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, and 
Mississippi have put in place restrictive state voting laws, which all 
too often have a disproportionate impact on lower-income and minority 
voters.
  Sixty-two years after the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board 
of Education, it is clear there is much more work to do. We should 
remember Dr. King's words in 1957. We should restore the law he 
implored Congress to enact. It is time to bring the bipartisan Voting 
Rights Advancement Act to the floor and ensure that the Federal 
Government is once again able to fully protect the fundamental right to 
vote.
  The Supreme Court of the United States stands just across the street 
from here. On the front of the Court four words are engraved: ``Equal 
Justice Under Law.'' Those words are a promise and a challenge to all 
of us. On this day, the anniversary of one of the Court's greatest 
triumphs, let us rededicate ourselves to ensuring that those four 
words--``Equal Justice Under Law''--ring true for this generation and 
future generations of Americans.

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