[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 9807-9811]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            50TH ANNIVERSARY OF BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the 
Supreme Court's decision to reverse the long-standing principle of 
``separate but equal'' in our public schools. The ruling handed down in 
Brown v. Board of Education was the great catalyst America needed to 
move toward equal opportunities for all children.
  On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court spoke unanimously: ``. . . in 
the field of public education the doctrine of `separate but equal' has 
no place.''
  When we talk about Brown v. Board of Education, it is natural to 
think about its application and enforcement in the South, because that 
was where the most publicized acts of segregation and discrimination 
took place.
  But it is naive to think that the South was the only region of 
America grappling with the new educational and racial standard of 
equality. Western states like Nevada struggled to adapt as well.
  Nevada was not a place widely associated with having a large 
population of African Americans back in 1954 . . . but in fact it was 
home to many African Americans who migrated from Arkansas, Louisiana, 
and Texas--primarily seeking employment in Law Vegas' hospitality 
industry.
  Clark County's classrooms were segregated before the Brown Decision--
and they remained so afterward. While there were no written laws 
segregating schools in Clark County, there were impenetrable school 
zoning laws that made it pretty clear that children could only go to 
school where they lived . . . and because of housing discrimination, 
most black people lived in concentrated areas.
  Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, yet Clark County 
schools were not officially integrated until much later, when attorney 
Charles Kellar arrived in Nevada in 1959. Thurgood Marshall, then head 
of the NAACP Bar Representation Program, solicited Mr. Kellar to move 
to Nevada to establish a chapter and legal representation.
  At the time, one had to live in Nevada for one year before sitting 
for the bar exam. So, to establish residency, most white law students 
would engage in paralegal work, Mr. Kellar spent his year studying real 
estate at an unknown little college called UNLV in order to qualify for 
residency.
  When he was finally eligible to sit for the exam, the hotel he 
reserved for his stay refused to admit him. He had to spend his two 
nights sleeping in the airport. To add insult to injury, Mr. Kellar was 
accused of cheating on his exam, for his results were near perfect. He 
had to sue the Nevada State Bar in order to gain admission, which he 
was finally granted in 1965.
  The first case he filed was a class action suit against the Clark 
County School District in 1968, charging that access to an equal, 
public education was denied to African American students--in spite of 
the Brown v. Board

[[Page 9808]]

of Education ruling 14 years earlier. Despite the fact that he won the 
case, the school district decided to convert the West Las Vegas schools 
to sixth grade centers, which would be fully integrated. However, the 
white students would be bused to the schools while the black students 
would have to walk.
  Mr. President, the landscape of Clark County is much different today 
in the sense that we now publicly educate a much more diverse 
population of students. But there are still factors in our school 
system that separate and discriminate against certain groups of 
students: economic status, English language learners, students with 
learning disabilities, and so on.
  I am concerned about these barriers, just as I am concerned about the 
gap in academic achievement between different groups of students. This 
gap says to me that we still have a lot of work to do in terms of 
providing truly equal opportunities for all of our children.
  And even after 50 years, in spite of the law, segregation itself is 
still alive and well.
  Taylor County High School in Butler, Georgia, held its first 
integrated prom in 31 years last year--in 2003. This year, the white 
students decided to return to their old tradition of holding their own 
private party--a segregated prom. It is disappointing to realize that 
segregation is still preferred by some people. But it just goes to show 
that we still have work to do.
  The Brown decision truly was a landmark . . . it showed that America 
had come a long way since Plessy v. Ferguson. Before Brown, we knew 
that segregation was wrong. After Brown, we knew that it was illegal.
  That was a tremendous step, and I am certainly grateful for it . . . 
but we cannot rest on our laurels.
  We must keep struggling until we can live up to the spirit of the 
Brown ruling, and to the letter of the Civil Rights Act that followed 
10 years later. Until we provide every child with an equal--not 
separate--opportunity to get a good education.
  Mrs. DOLE. Mr. President, 50 years ago our Nation witnessed a 
significant step in providing equal education for every child of every 
race. On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor 
of a young girl who had been denied enrollment in her neighborhood 
school simply because of the color of her skin. On the 50th Anniversary 
of the Supreme Court's Brown vs. the Board of Education ruling, I want 
to recognize the courage, vision and boldness of that decision and 
celebrate how far our country has come--and focus on a new bold vision 
that will lead us into the future.
   The Brown decision not only called for an end to segregation--it 
began a process of healing in America, still needed almost 100 years 
after the Civil War. The Brown decision affirmed the constitutional 
promise of equality for all Americans. It overturned laws that denied 
millions of school children freedom and choice in education and set 
this country on a new course, affirming civil and human rights while 
demanding the full respect and protection of the law for all people. 
Brown vs. the Board of Education was a decision of courage and 
conviction and was one of the finest moments of the American judicial 
system. But while this decision paved the way for the establishment of 
equal learning environments, today there is evidence of work yet to be 
done.
  Unfortunately, 50 years later, we still have a relatively two-tiered 
education system. Many students are in schools where they are receiving 
an incredible education; other children are in mediocre classrooms, 
emerging at the end of each school year barely even able to read at the 
levels of their peers. The reality is disheartening: nationally, at the 
fourth-grade level, the achievement gap in reading between blacks and 
whites is 28 percentage points. And consider this: only one in six 
African-Americans can read proficiently after graduating from high 
school. It truly is hard to believe such disparity exists today.
  Years after opening the doors of opportunity to every child--
regardless of their race--we have yet to truly take advantage of the 
possibilities Brown vs. Board created. Breaking through prejudice in 
school enrollment was the first step--educating each and every student 
to his or her full potential is the next. I give President Bush much 
credit for recognizing this problem and applaud his willingness to make 
it an issue in the last national election. He said that, if elected, he 
would institute change, and he did. Within four days of assuming 
office, he provided a blueprint that became the No Child Left Behind 
Act of 2001--an act that was passed with wide bipartisan support.
  With this law our country is beginning to address the achievement 
gap. The ``old ways'' will no longer be tolerated. Along with many 
mothers, fathers, teachers and school administrators, we are demanding 
equity, justice and inclusion for every child.
  This significant piece of legislation raises academic standards, 
holds schools accountable for performance, requires that every child 
learn to read, works to ensure that there is a quality teacher in every 
classroom, and provides more choices and flexibility for parents.
  Accountability is the cornerstone of what makes No Child Left Behind 
so bold and visionary. In the past, the Federal Government would send 
checks to fund education and hope something good might happen. Now the 
Government is sending checks--at record levels, contrary to partisan 
charges--and asking school systems to show what progress they are 
making and what problems remain to be addressed.
  While many years passed before the Brown vs. Board decision made a 
visible difference in our classrooms, it took far less time to see the 
changes initiated by No Child Left Behind. I am pleased to say we have 
witnessed this progress in my home State of North Carolina. In 
Charlotte, our State's largest city, reading levels have risen 
significantly. Dr. Jim Pugsley, superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg 
Schools, has a lot to be proud of. Just a few years ago, only 35 
percent of African-American fifth graders in his district were reading 
at grade level, but today, that number has more than doubled to 78 
percent of African American fifth graders reading at grade level.
  Schools all over the country are celebrating similar results. The 
Chicago Sun Times recently reported that Chicago public school children 
who transferred from schools in need of improvement to higher 
performing schools under NCLB showed an 8 percent greater learning gain 
in reading and math than the national average.
  Granted, you cannot set lofty goals for thousands of schools without 
providing the funding to back it up. I am pleased to say president 
Bush, along with this Congress, is working to secure significant 
amounts for our school system. In fact, the United States spends more 
money in our K-12 education system than any other country in the world 
with the exception of Switzerland. This year, the President has 
requested unprecedented funding increases for education in his overall 
fiscal year 2005 budget. Never before has a President invested so much 
in education. Total spending for K-12 education has gone up $9.7 
billion since No Child Left Behind was signed into law. In fact, the 
President's 2005 budget requests $2.5 billion for North Carolina 
education--that is 54 percent more than when President Bush took 
office. The 2005 budget also increases title I funding to $290.5 
million to help our State's neediest children. That is more than $113 
million above 2001 levels. Funding for schools in North Carolina and 
throughout the country is finally tied to real accountability for real 
results. I will continue to work with the education leaders in my home 
State to ensure that each child receives the best education possible--
and to ensure that No Child Left Behind continues to build on the 
foundation the Brown Decision laid for closing the opportunity gap in 
classrooms across America.
  Our classrooms are the training ground for America's future, and our 
schools and teachers are entrusted with the minds of tomorrow. We must 
guarantee that those minds are being challenged, educated and 
encouraged to their greatest potential. Together with the standard of 
excellence provided by the No Child Left Behind Act,

[[Page 9809]]

teachers, parents and students have the opportunity to continue the 
dream first realized 50 years ago through the Brown vs. the Board of 
Education ruling. A dream where every child has the right to be 
educated--and none of them will be left behind.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, 50 years ago on a Monday in May, the 
Supreme Court revealed the soul of our Constitution when it said, ``. . 
. in the field of education, separate but equal has no place.'' It was 
a moral decision just as much as it was a legal decision that ended 
discrimination in every place across America.
  Some of you remember that day. I was just born and can only imagine 
what it was like to experience that moment of truth. To hear those 
words ``has no place'' To see those headlines, ``Supreme Court bans . . 
. '' To feel the advance of justice. It was a glorious day in America 
and for all those families, children, teachers, and heroes of the last 
two centuries who risked their lives to move America to that moment.
  All of that effort and success and history was wrapped in the family 
name, Brown. But we can never forget that there were other families 
involved in that case.
  One of these cases began in my birth state of South Carolina. The 
African-American kids had to walk up to nine miles each way between 
their homes and their only school in Summerton. The white kids had 30 
school buses to take them back and forth to their schools. The African 
American parents went to the Clarendon County School Board with a 
simple request--one school bus.
  The school board said no. So J.A. De Laine, a minister, convinced a 
humble farmer named Levi Pearson to sue the Clarendon County school 
district for buses. That case was Briggs v. Elliott and became one of 
the five cases from around the country that were consolidated and 
eventually became known as Brown v. Board of Education.
  The long journey from the back roads of South Carolina to the 
chambers of the Supreme Court was mapped out and led by attorney 
Charles Hamilton Houston. Together with his protege Thurgood Marshall, 
Charlie Houston patiently, painstakingly and brilliantly used the 
Constitution to correct itself and end legal segregation forever.
  And the other cases were from Delaware, Virginia, and the District of 
Columbia. The other names were Belton, Davis, and Bolling. And in 
Topeka, there were 12 other families involved, nearly 200 total. This 
wasn't one case and one person and one school, but the cause of 
millions, and ultimately a cause for all of America.
  You and I know that this country has made progress. The ``White Only 
Signs'' have come down. Thurgood Marshall went on to serve on the 
Supreme Court. We have Congressman and women and Senators who have 
taken their place in our national leadership. And we have doctors and 
lawyers and storeowners in every neighborhood and in any town.
  We have come far, but we're not there yet.
  I grew up in an America that was growing up too with this landmark 
decision. This is something I've lived with my entire life living in 
the South in the '50s and '60s.
  We all have a responsibility when it comes to issues of race and 
equality and civil rights, but as a Southerner, I feel an especially 
enormous responsibility to lead on this issue. We Southerners have this 
special responsibility, not only because we know America's tragic and 
painful history on race, but also because we have led the way in 
breaking free from that history.
  From the time I was very young, I saw up close the ugly face of 
segregation and discrimination. I saw young African-American kids 
shuttled upstairs in movie theaters. I saw white only signs on 
restaurant doors and luncheon counters. When I was in the sixth grade, 
my teacher walked into the classroom and said he wouldn't teach in an 
integrated school.
  But even in the struggle's darkest days, countless Southerners stood 
as profiles in courage. For every George Wallace, we had a Terry 
Sanford. There were four Southern Justices on the Court that decided 
Brown. And it was Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, who told a joint session of 
Congress in 1965, ``We SHALL overcome!''
  I have heard some of these pundits and politicians on television 
debate where and when in America we can talk about this issue. They 
think it is fine to stop and pat ourselves on the back on special days 
like today or Martin Luther King Day or during Black History Month. But 
they don't think we should talk about race and equality and civil 
rights any other time. But we need to talk about this everyday and 
everywhere.
  Why? Because this is not an African-American issue. This is not a 
Hispanic-American issue or an Asian-American issue. This is an American 
issue. It is about who we are. What our values are. What kind of 
country we want to live in. What kind of country we want our children 
and grandchildren to live in.
  We have come far, but we are not there yet.
  We need leaders who not only talk the talk of civil rights and 
equality, but are willing to DO something about it. We need leaders who 
understand that 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education we still 
have two public school systems in America: one for students who live in 
affluent communities and another for students who don't. There are 
still students in our rural areas and in our cities who try to learn in 
a crowded trailer, learn to read under a crumbling ceiling, and try to 
study science with equipment that ought to be seen only in their 
history books.
  Yes, there are signs of hope. In my own State, for example, schools 
in Charlotte and Durham and elsewhere are raising test scores while 
also closing the achievement gap.
  But the truth is that while our best public schools are among the 
best in the world--the state of many of our schools remains the shame 
of our Nation.
  Education has made all the difference in my life. I was the first 
member of my family to go to college. But millions of our children are 
being denied the opportunities I had.
  Poor and minority students come to school with greater challenges, 
and our education system then turns around and gives them less of 
everything that matters. We spend less in their classrooms. We give 
them fewer qualified teachers. And we teach them a weaker curriculum. 
One Washington, DC, high school enrolls three times more students in 
``office reprographics''--training on photocopiers--than in pre-
calculus and calculus combined.
  Millions of our young people drop out, turning their backs on their 
futures. Minority students have only a 50-50 chance of finishing high 
school.
  Those who do make it to their senior year are four years behind their 
peers in reading and math. That's right--minority seniors test at the 
same level as white eighth-graders.
  And just last week, a judge in Topeka, KS, of all places, ordered the 
public schools shut down because the funding was so inequitable that it 
utterly failed to serve the needs of poor, minority, disabled and non-
English speaking children.
  In his opinion, Judge Bullock quoted directly from Brown: ``Today, 
education is perhaps the most important function of State and local 
governments. . . . It is required in the performance of our most basic 
public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. . . . 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, must be 
made available to all on equal terms.''
  We have come far, but we are not there yet.
  Fifty years later, we are still fighting that fight. But thank God we 
have some courageous judges who uphold our civil rights laws and ensure 
equal justice for all. We have to continue to fight for judges who will 
enforce our civil rights laws and stand up for equality in America. We 
have so much work to do with economic equality and educational 
equality. That takes leadership, not slogans and photo ops.

[[Page 9810]]

  The administration can talk about ``No Child Left Behind'' all they 
want. It is great rhetoric.
  But the reality is that children are being left behind all over the 
country. They sit in the back of the classroom, wishing they could do 
better, but no one hears them, no one sees them. They walk the halls 
and go unnoticed because our schools are so crowded now that no one 
knows their names. They try their best, but drop out of high school--
they give up on their education because the education system has given 
up on them.
  None of us would tolerate that for our own children. Well, these ARE 
our children. Every single one of them. Their failure is our failure. 
And their success is our success. We've got to do better by them. Yes 
we must have high expectations of them. But as David Broder noted in a 
recent column, we also have to provide the resources they need to meet 
those standards.
  And that takes real leadership not rhetoric. Real leadership is 
courage, and commitment, and action. It means doing everything we can 
to make equality a reality--not only in our laws, but in our lives, in 
communities where poverty and discrimination remain a scar on our 
Nation.
  More than anything, leadership means recognizing that social justice 
is not a zero-sum game where ``we'' give something to ``them''--whether 
it's women or minorities or immigrants. The Brown decision was not 
about some ``them.'' It was about ``us.'' All of us.
  We have come so far, but we are not there yet.
  I believe that the best way to mark the 50th anniversary of the Brown 
decision is to push onward with all of the strength and determination 
we can muster to ensure that the promise of Brown is finally realized. 
It is time to honor those heroes who would not quit, who would not 
settle for anything less than the right book to read, a school bus to 
ride on, and a great teacher to guide them.
  In moving forward, we honor the Little Rock Nine who walked passed 
angry mobs, and inspired the Nation with their grace. We honor James 
Meredith, who persevered despite the full weight of Mississippi 
demanding that he stay home. We honor little Ruby Bridges, who needed 
U.S. Marshals to protect her from the wall of human hate that stood 
between her and her new school--a scene so compelling that Norman 
Rockwell used it as the basis for his painting, ``The Problem We All 
Live With'' that I have hanging in one of my Senate offices. And all of 
the families who joined the NAACP to take down Plessy vs. Ferguson once 
and for all.
  When those walls were raised; when all the doors and gates were 
locked, the African American community found its own gateway to a good 
education. Despite all of the odds, despite those in power who said, 
``You can't have this chance,'' ordinary people stood together tall and 
strong and said, ``Yes we can!''
  These moments of history shadow us today. These heroes are looking 
right over our shoulders. They are urging us to move forward. They are 
telling us, ``we've brought you this far, but you're not there yet.''
  Our journey to one America is the greatest mission of our history. 
Our work, our effort, our commitment must be constant. I know mine is. 
Together, from the heights of national power to every local Head Start 
center, we must strive to open doors, to make sure that there's always 
a seat at the table, and the voices of all Americans will be heard.
  I believe that wherever you live, whoever your family is, and 
whatever the color of your skin is, if you are willing to work hard, 
you ought to be able to go as far as your God-given talents and hard 
work will take you. We believe in bringing people together. What we 
believe, what I believe, is that the family you are born into and the 
color of your skin will never control what you are able to do or how 
far you can go in this, our America.
  That is the America we should all believe in. That is the promise of 
the Brown decision. And that is the America we can create, not just for 
a precious few, but for everyone.
  We have come far and we are not done, but I do believe that we WILL 
get there yet.
  I ask unanimous consent to print an article from the Washington Post 
written by David Broder entitled ``Still Separate and Unequal.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Washington Post, May 13, 2004]

                       Still Separate and Unequal

                          (By David S. Broder)

       In his ``two Americas'' stump speech--the single most 
     powerful message anyone delivered in the Democratic primaries 
     this winter--Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina talked 
     bluntly about the differences between the education, health 
     care, housing and other basics available to the well-off and 
     the working poor in this country.
       ``We have two different school systems,'' Edwards said in 
     countless appearances, ``one for people in the most affluent 
     communities and another for everyone else.'' That message--
     largely dismissed by the Bush White House and de-emphasized 
     by John Kerry in his reach for middle-class votes--is of 
     special relevance as the nation prepares to note the 50th 
     anniversary on Monday of the Supreme Court decision that 
     formally ended racial segregation in our schools.
       Brown v. Board of Education was a legal landmark, but the 
     reason that the anniversary is being observed, rather than 
     celebrated, is what Edwards had the courage to point out. In 
     far too many places, the notion of equal opportunity in 
     education is still far from reality.
       In ``Beyond Brown v. Board: The Final Battle for Excellence 
     in American Education.'' written for the Rockefeller 
     Foundation and published this week, Ellis Cose of Newsweek 
     cities example after example of the holes that remain in the 
     system. ``[B]lacks (and Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans) 
     do not, for the most part, go to the same schools, or even 
     the same types of schools, as do the majority of non-Hispanic 
     whites,'' Cose wrote. ``They are more likely to go to schools 
     such as those found in parts of rural South Carolina; schools 
     that, were it not for the American flags proudly flying over 
     the roofs, might have been plucked out of some impoverished 
     country that sees education as a luxury it can barely 
     afford.''
       The law firm headed by Richard Riley, the former secretary 
     of education in the Clinton Cabinet, represents parents and 
     school officials in several of those poor South Carolina 
     counties in a lawsuit seeking to force the state to provide 
     more funds for those schools. With integration--the original 
     goal for the Brown decision--thwarted in many places by 
     residential segregation, resistance to busing and the growing 
     reluctance of federal courts to impose their orders, Cose 
     points out that the new legal battleground has become state 
     court lawsuits seeking ``adequacy'' in school funding.
       The suits, which have begun to win scattered success in 
     states as diverse as New York, North Carolina, Arizona and 
     Idaho since the first breakthrough in Kentucky in 1989, ask 
     the courts to require that the state determine what it takes 
     to educate a child adequately--in staff, facilities, books 
     and equipment--and come up with the money to provide it.
       The movements fits logically with the standards set in 
     President Bush's No Child Left Behind education reform. The 
     2002 law aims at either rescuing or shuttering low-performing 
     schools and especially at helping students who have been 
     shuffled through grades without really getting an education.
       By measuring youngsters' competence in basic skills at 
     regular intervals and requiring adequate progress for all 
     parts of the school population--not just the bright 
     students--NCLB pressures states and districts to take steps 
     to eliminate education failures. And that in turn sets up a 
     demand for better principals and teachers and materials.
       But standards by themselves will not end the two-track 
     education system. Resources have to flow to the schools and 
     districts that lack the tools they need. A recently published 
     ``Look Inside 33 School Districts'' by the Center on 
     Education Policy, an independent advocate for more effective 
     public schools, draws the contrast.
       The Romulus, N.Y., school system, a small suburban district 
     between Rochester and Syracuse, has found no difficulty 
     meeting the first two years of NCLB requirements. ``The 
     district has taken steps to not only recruit well-qualified 
     teachers for any vacancies that arise, but also retain 
     them,'' the report says. ``Romulus has established an 
     extensive mentoring program that taps the expertise of 
     retired teachers by matching them in mentor relationships 
     with new teachers'' that continue for a full year. No 
     surprise, then, that ``Romulus students perform at high 
     levels.''
       A few pages later in the report one finds the Cleveland 
     Municipal School District, whose officials ``applaud the 
     spirit of NCLB and agree that schools should be held 
     accountable'' but where ``implementation has been rocky.'' 
     The district could not reach its mandated improvement goals, 
     with 27

[[Page 9811]]

     schools on a watch list for failing to meet standards. 
     Officials cannot say how many Cleveland teachers rate as 
     ``highly qualified.'' And state budget cuts cost Cleveland 
     schools $33 million in the current biennium.
       The Romulus schools are 97 percent white; the Cleveland 
     schools, 80 percent non-white. Fifty years after Brown, John 
     Edwards' description still applies.

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 
landmark United States Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of 
Education.
  On May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren read the unanimous decision of 
the United States Supreme Court, which stated, ``We conclude that, in 
the field of public education, the doctrine of `separate but equal' has 
no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.''
  The decision made a statement about the course that this country 
needed to take to achieve the greatness that we, as a Nation, are 
capable of achieving. Brown v. Board of Education became the measure of 
equality--and a platform on which the civil rights era was born.
  In December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a 
Montgomery, AL, bus to a white person and was arrested. This sparked an 
outrage in the African American community, who decided to boycott the 
city's buses as a way to challenge the city's segregation laws. The 
boycott led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision that banned segregated 
buses.
  In September 1957, the commitment to equality in education was 
reiterated in Little Rock, AK, when President Eisenhower sent troops to 
Central High School to uphold the Supreme Court's desegregation order 
protecting the rights of the ``Little Rock Nine.''
  In 1960, four freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical 
College in Greensboro, NC, were refused service at a lunch counter at 
the F.W. Woolworth Store. They sat quietly, without being served, until 
the store's closing. The next day, they returned with 25 more students 
from the college. Peaceful protests at lunch counters across the 
country were initiated and lasted for weeks. The lunch counter protests 
resulted in a number of stores integrating prior to the passage of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  On October 1, 1962, federal officials escorted James Meredith, as he 
became the first African American to enroll at, and later graduate 
from, the University of Mississippi.
  On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of marchers--of all races--
descended on Washington, DC to urge Congress to pass legislation to 
provide equal access to public facilities, quality education, 
sufficient employment and housing options for African Americans.
  The Brown decision and the events flowing from it were major 
catalysts that led the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 
1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
  While we must never lose sight of the benefit and the power of the 
Brown v. Board of Education decision, we must not believe that the 
fight for true equality is over and won.
  Fifty years later, our country is struggling along the path toward a 
truly equal society. Unfortunately, today, in many areas, we are still 
separate and unequal. Individuals come to work in integrated 
environments and return home to segregated neighborhoods. Parents send 
their children to schools that seem to be returning to those 
reminiscent of the days of segregation.
  The road to Brown v. Board of Education was not an easy one, nor was 
it swift. So, on this, the 50th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of 
Education decision, it is important that we not only recognize the 
struggle behind the Civil Rights movement, but that we rededicate 
ourselves to the goal of providing equal opportunity for all.

                          ____________________