[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 21 (Monday, May 24, 2004)]
[Pages 911-912]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Opening of the Brown v. Board of Education National 
Historic Site in Topeka, Kansas

May 17, 2004

    Thank you all. Thanks a lot. Please be seated. Thank you all for 
coming out today. Cheryl, thank you very much for your kind 
introduction. I appreciate all the Brown family who are here. Justice 
Breyer. Governor Sebelius is with us today. Governor, thank you for 
being here. Leader Frist. Senator Brownback and Senator Roberts from the 
great State of Kansas. Congressman Jim Ryun, Congressmen Tiahrt, Moran, 
and Moore as well from Kansas. Congressman Elijah Cummings. Thank you 
for being here, Congressman. Proud you're here. Secretary Norton and 
Secretary Paige, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
    I'm honored to join you at this historic place to mark a day and a 
decision that changed America for the better and forever. Fifty years 
ago today, nine judges announced that they had looked at the 
Constitution and saw no justification for the segregation and 
humiliation of an entire race. Here at the corner of 15th and Monroe and 
at schools like it across America, that was a day of justice, and it was 
a long time coming.
    For millions of African descent, the experience of segregation began 
in chains and darkness beneath the deck of a ship. A terrible civil war 
ended their slavery but did not end their oppression. Generations of 
African American citizens grew up and grew old under laws designed to 
demean them. Under the rule of Jim Crow, almost no detail of life 
escaped the supervision of cruel and petty men. The color of your skin 
determined where you could get your hair cut, which hospital ward you 
could be treated in, which park or library you could visit, or who you 
could go fishing with. And children were instructed early in the customs 
of racial division at schools where they never saw a face of another 
color.
    This was codified cruelty at the service of racism. Segregation 
dulled the conscience of people who knew better. It fed the violence of 
people with malice in their hearts. And however it was defended, 
segregation could never be squared with the ideals of America.
    The legal challenges to school segregation began more than 100 years 
before the Supreme Court heard the case of Brown v. Board of Education. 
In 1849, African American parents brought suit against Boston's divided 
schools. Here in Kansas, segregation was challenged in several cases 
between 1881 and 1949. These early efforts did not bring victory, yet 
they inspired words and warnings that have spoken across the years. As 
Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote in his dissenting opinion in Plessy 
v. Ferguson: ``In view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there 
is in this country no superior, dominant ruling class of citizens. The 
humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man 
and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color.''
    The fulfillment of that vision decades later fell to a small group 
of earnest and tenacious lawyers. Two of them would travel thousands of 
miles together in a 1929 Ford, driving from courthouse to courthouse, 
with Charles Hamilton Houston and young Thurgood Marshall typing briefs 
in the car. They documented the often poor conditions of black-only 
schools, the holes in the roofs and dirt floors that ran with mud when 
it rained. And they pursued a strategy to bring down the whole sorry 
structure of segregation, case by case.

[[Page 912]]

    Eventually, in December of 1953, Thurgood Marshall stood before the 
Supreme Court as counsel in a consolidated action involving 4 States and 
nearly 200 plaintiffs, including 13 families from Topeka, Kansas. Many 
legal arguments were advanced in the case. Yet the stakes were 
summarized in the brief Marshall presented to the Court. It stated, 
``Separate but equal is legal fiction. There never was and never will be 
any separate equality.'' The Court agreed. As the decision was 
announced, some were waiting to see which Justices would be in dissent. 
The answer came when Chief Justice Warren declared that the opinion was 
unanimous.
    The decision in Brown versus Board of Education did not end all 
segregation, did not even end school segregation for many years. The 
civil rights movement was still waiting on other heroes and cases and 
laws. Yet, all sides of the question knew that on May 17th, 1954, a line 
had been crossed in American history. The system of racial oppression in 
our country had lost its claim to legitimacy, and the rising demand for 
justice would not be denied.
    Putting the Brown decision into effect would take Presidential 
orders and the presence of Federal troops and marshals and the courage 
of children. One of the children who integrated Central High School in 
Little Rock was Melba Pattillo. She recalls white students after gym 
class turning her shower to scalding. Others broke a bottle and tripped 
her on the glass, leaving scars that remain today.
    Yet, Melba has other memories as well. She says, ``I went in not 
through the side doors but up the front stairs, and there was a feeling 
of pride and hope that, yes, this is the United States. Yes, there is a 
reason I salute the flag, and it's going to be okay.''
    In the years after Brown, many would know the fears and insults this 
young woman had faced. A court can make an order, but it was the child 
that had to walk the gauntlet of slurs and jeers into a school. And 
America is still grateful to every child who made that walk.
    In many ways, the events of those years seem long ago. We tend to 
think of them as the distant dramas of a different country. Yet, 
segregation is a living memory, and many still carry its scars. The 
habits of racism in America have not all been broken. The habits of 
respect must be taught to every generation. Laws against racial 
discrimination must be vigorously enforced in education and housing and 
hiring and public accommodations. Many African Americans with no 
inheritance but their character need access to capital and the chance to 
own and build for the future. And while our schools are no longer 
segregated by law, they are still not equal in opportunity and 
excellence. Justice requires more than a place in a school. Justice 
requires that every school teach every child in America.
    America has yet to reach the high calling of its own ideals. Yet 
we're a nation that strives to do right, and we honor those who expose 
our failures, correct our course, and make us a better people. On this 
day, in this place, we remember with gratitude the good souls who saw a 
great wrong and stood their ground and won their case. And we celebrate 
a milestone in the history of our glorious Nation.
    Thank you for having me. May God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:06 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Cheryl Brown Henderson, president, Brown Foundation for Educational 
Equality, Excellence and Research; and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.