Balkinization  

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Remembering Brown

Mark Graber

Several months ago, I had the honor of helping West Baltimore Middle School celebrate Brown v. Board of Education. A fascinating experience. Much wonderful revisionist scholarship, most notably Gerry Rosenberg's, The Hollow Hope, and Michael Klarman's, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, questions the deification of Brown in the American civil religion. West Baltimore, was very much into holy worship for reasons more elite academics may forgot. The central struggle West Baltimore teachers face is convincing kids that they want to go to college. The message of Brown day is clear, get an education and help your people. In this environment, it didn't seem quite right to note that on the 50th anniversary of Brown II, I didn't see either a white student or a computer in any classroom.

As we debate the next Supreme Court nominee, I hope we keep West Baltimore Middle in mind. The too easy answer as to what has happened is that the Rehnquist Court lost interest in racial equality, but as I read the elite law reviews, it seems that a good many liberals seem more concerned with privacy and related rights than with the constitutional problems of the non-white poor. My daughters have bright futures ahead of them, however they may encounter gender discrimination. Most of my gay friends lead good lives, even if they are subject to discrimination and cannot yet legally marry. Too many of the children and West Baltimore lack such a future or promise, unless our politics makes their concerns far more central than they have been in either left or right wing politics.

Comments:

But surely the fact is, neither the Rehnquist court nor the left-wing legal academy has the faintest idea of how to solve the problems of the students at West Baltimore, so they have moved on to other problems where they at least have ideas (like a "federalism revolution," or boycotting states that don't allow gay marriage, or whatever) for something to do.

If you have any actual ideas of how to help the students at West Baltimore, by all means write a book. I confess that I do not.
 

Post a Comment

Older Posts
Newer Posts
Home