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Table of Contents Brown vs. the Board of Education / Little Known Facts Lifespan REflections/Accepting Allies Retreating with the Eurpoean UUs Congregational News/UUC Roanoke 50th Anniversary Pastoral Care in Changing Times A Day to Remember/Unitarian Church of Norfolk Takes a Stand Planning for Growth and Vitality in Small Size Congregations TJD/UUA Fair Share Congregations |
Brown vs. the Board of Education - The weekend of May 21-23 was fairly typical. I met with the District's incoming President of the Board, Myrtle Hepler, and we talked about important district matters, fellowshipped at her home congregation, UU Fellowship of Raleigh, and took their soon-departing minister, Rev. Julie Denny-Hughes, to lunch. Finally, we met with Amassa Fauntleroy, member and Worship Coordinator at All Souls, TJD's intentionally diverse congregation in Durham, NC. Amassa has served as the Chair of my District Executive Relations Committee for more than five years. I also attended a Summer Forum sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, entitled "Race, Culture and History: Brown vs. Board of Education at 50." Fifty years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. the Board of Education that legal race separation was inherently unequal and, therefore, unconstitutional in public education. Today, this landmark decision lauded as the 20th century Emancipation Proclamation for blacks is as controversial as it was a half century ago. Why, because some of its staunchest supporters in retrospect are ambivalent now about whether the landmark case made a positive and significant difference in the lives of African Americans -- or if it instead dismantled black institutions and denied black children nurturing learning environments. One detractor, urban social policy researcher in Chicago, IL, Paul Street, whose article, "With All Deliberate Speed," perceives the Brown decision as a "buy-in from moderates and racists within and beyond the bench" that was crafted to "avoid(ed) any direct confrontation with the white-supremacist ideologies and structures that lay beneath the Big ‘Separate But Equal’ Lie." Street asserts that the Brown decision's "tepid language" failed to mandate a "reasonably rapid remedy for the crime of educational apartheid…its timid requirement that school desegregation proceed with all deliberate speed." Ten years after the Brown decision, just one percent of southern black children attended even partly desegregated schools. Perhaps, some of the most disconcerting comments are those uttered by individuals who essentially laid their lives on the line and now question the integrity of their actions. In retrospect, Josephine Boyd, the first student to integrate Greensboro, NC, schools calls her actions into question. Dr. Sarah C. Thuesen, a Forum presenter, showed an old documentary narrated by newscaster, Edward R. Murrow that portrayed black and white teachers and black and white students interviewed on the eve of desegregation. One particularly poignant scene shows a small framed little "Negro" boy sitting in the back of the classroom while all the white students were seated as far away from him as physically possible while still remaining in the same room. One forum presenter suggested that many of the black parents felt their children would be mistreated by white teachers and white students and, therefore, were reluctant to send them to all-white schools. Bobbi Quinn Berry, one of the children who helped desegregate southern schools, reflected on the turmoil of the times. "We never knew if we were going to get though the day...with the bomb threats, etc." she said. Catherine Tucker, a teacher at the time in Hickory, NC, hinted at the emotional trauma that some of the students endured, "I think we lost a whole generation of children.…There were many many of our children who just dropped out. Not always physically, but emotionally." Conclusion The issue of desegregated schools can't be resolved if we don't solve the problem of segregated neighborhoods and racial intolerance that spawns such problems. So whether it is same sex marriages or migrant farm workers or upholding human rights here in our own country - as UU's we must speak out against injustice and uphold the inherent worth and dignity of all human beings. Little Known Facts Counting the votes of slaves allowed Thomas Jefferson to become President and defeat John Adams. After World War I, 70 of the black men lynched were lynched in their uniforms. At two of the largest marches on Washington, 1963 and 1965, there was no mention made of Brown vs. Board of Education. The NAACP deliberated over whether to take aim at racism in public facilities, housing, the organized labor movement or education. They decided in the late 1920's their focus would be on education. In the 1920's the NAACP had 1,000 members. In the 1940's they had 40,000 Wake County, NC, has attempted an alternative model based on economic status rather than race. They currently are assigning students in a way that no school has more than a certain percentage of students that receive free lunch with no more than a certain percentage of test scores below a given percentage. Asheboro, NC's Board of Education dismissed all the black teachers in the aftermath of Brown vs. the Board of Education. Al Smith, Presidential contender, refused to sign a mild statement denouncing lynching, disenfranchisement of blacks and supporting equal right. In the midst of WWI, the majority of blacks supported the war and hoped with its conclusion that they would be granted their rights since it was, after all, a war for democratic rights. So African Americans joined he military with great hopes. Instead, they were given the lowest tasks, thrown into the military justice system disproportionately and not allowed to engage in combat. Combat at that time was reserved for whites only. So blacks returned home in 1919, the Red Summer. It was referred to as such because blood flowed in the streets. Blacks fought back. There were riots in 25 different cities. At the same time blacks’ mass migration from the South created competition for housing and jobs in the North. As blacks left the South it threatened to destabilize the share cropping system. Seventy of the individuals lynched were lynched wearing their uniforms. The NAACP unsuccessfully launched a federal anti-lynching law that was filibustered by southern legislators. While they were not successful they were still able to reduce the number of lynchings. The NAACP defeated the nomination of John Parker to the Supreme Court because he favored disenfranchisement of blacks and went on to oust those who had supported him. Their success raised the NAACP's profile. The Civil Rights Movement came into existence as the result of the restive nature and the slowness of Brown vs. the Board of Education. The Brown decision paved the way for changes in attitude and laws in this country. The significance of it goes beyond the schools and was a way to reshape the culture of this country and break down barriers. Detractors of Brown maintain that desegregation was achieved on the backs of blacks where in their separate but equal worlds blacks had established schools with teachers that lived in the community, understood the students and cared about them. |