[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 25905]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   50TH ANNIVERSARY OF LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL DESEGREGATION

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, this week marks the 50th anniversary of the 
desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, a victory for 
equality in education that was only secured with the help of Federal 
troops. The images that came out of Little Rock in September 1953 
remain indelible: the National Guard literally standing in the way of 
equal education; a citizens' blockade threatening to break into mob 
violence at the mere thought of sharing their school with Black 
students; and the quiet dignity and courage of the Little Rock Nine. 
Their determination to claim their rights is still a source of 
inspiration, but the rest of the Little Rock crisis is a source of 
shame.
  So we do two things on this 50th anniversary. First and foremost, we 
honor the nine young students who integrated Little Rock and who gave 
eloquent testimony that equality begins with education. We thank them 
today: Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence 
Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, 
Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals.
  But second, we need to forthrightly face the truth this week: 50 
years later and 53 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the work 
they helped begin is still incomplete. Segregation in law is over, but 
who can doubt that it persists in fact? National Guard troops may no 
longer be blocking children from the door to an equal eduation, but the 
forces that have taken their place, if less visible, are no less 
potent.
  Whether an American child has good teachers, whether that child has 
up-to-date textbooks, whether that child goes to school in a safe, 
modern building--all of these educational essentials depdend far too 
much on where that child happens to live. In fact, America--the country 
that struck down segregation more than a half-century ago--ranks at the 
bottom of developed countries in the disparity of schooling it offers 
to the rich and the poor. Why doesn't that gap shame us just as much as 
anything that happened in Little Rock?
  Mr. President, a textbook published in this millenium should not be a 
luxury. Modern school buildings and computers and libraries should not 
be luxuries. Qualified teachers, competent guidance counselors, 
rigorous curricula, small classes--they should not be luxuries. 
Children should not be entitled to them because they happen to live in 
affluence; they are entitled to them because they live in America.
  Let us look to this important anniversary for inspiration to 
desegregate American education for good and for all--to complete the 
work begun so bravely by the Little Rock Nine.

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