Racial Discrimination: A Slow and Steady Eroding of Brown v. Board of Education

Abstract

Race in the United States has a sordid past. Obviously, the source of this animus commences with the concept of “the peculiar institution.” Even though slavery was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, racial segregation did not and the disparity between blacks and whites remains unequal. Today, racial discrimination includes many other demographics, such as Hispanics, Asians, and others. Racial segregation was prominent in public schools as many schools sought to keep separate black and white children. This paradigm was reinforced in 1896 when the Supreme Court permitted programs and facilities that were separate but equal. For many public schools, the intent was that students of different colors would be kept separate, but they would receive the same quality of education in facilities that were comparable. Society did not meet this goal. However, in 1954 (Brown v. Board of Education), the Court ruled that de jure segregation was unconstitutional and public schools must desegregate as quickly as possible. A quick review of American history shows that many areas and schools were resistant to integration. However, this seminal decision by the Court in 1954 was the foundation for many of the civil rights laws that were to be enacted in the years to follow that dealt not only with racial discrimination but discrimination in all facets of society. Schools deal with segregation in several ways, but one that was noteworthy in the 1970s was inequity among funding schools. In most states, the method by which schools are funded is tied to the property value of the district. When property values are lower, the area tends to have lower-funded schools and these lower-valued areas are often associated with nonwhite groups. The Court determined that because education is not a fundamental right in the Constitution, the Equal Protection Clause does not require absolute equality or precisely equal advantages. This case essentially eliminated the argument of equity when addressing how public schools are financed. Other cases heard by the Court continually erode what Brown in 1954 established. One method the Court utilized was the argument of deferring to localities to determine the policies that were best for them. This legal philosophy gets upended when the Seattle Public Schools policy of desegregating its schools is found to be violative of the Constitution even though it was created by a local board. This is in direct conflict with the method previously employed. This is the case where Chief Justice Roberts’ notable perspective on racial relations came from his statement that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race.”

Using race positively to promote diversity was essentially no different from using it negatively to create the segregated school systems that the Court struck down in Brown … the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

—Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority in the Parents (2007) decision