Brown v. Board of Education and its Implications

[inquirius]

I am a law student and currently I'm interested in government schools and the impact of integration of the races.  After reading the majority opinion of Chief Justice Warren, I was surprised to find that the argument (for the desegregation of races) is not very compelling for such a landmark case, and that current data does not support Warren's argument.  I'd like to share some of my thoughts and I encourage others to share theirs as well.

 

 

I'd like to remind everyone who does not already know, that Brown v. Board of Education is a reversal of previous case law established in Plessy v. Ferguson, which essentially states that segregating the races in the public schools is constitutional.  I believe Stefan covers some of the history of racial integration in his videos, and they are a great source for general information as well.

 

 

To begin, I'd like to provide the following source for Warren's opinion itself; https://www.princeton.edu/~ereading/Brown1.pdf 

 

 

My analysis of the opinion:

 

 

1. Warren first establishes the compelling government interest in maintaining a standard of equality in government schools.  He states that, “education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments,” and that an individual’s success and good citizenship depend upon a good education.  

 

 

My response: I fully agree that a government should ensure the efficacy of its tax livestock.

 

 

2. Warren quickly moves to his primary argument that even with equal amenities, separating the races within public schools results in inequality for the black student. He states, "to separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."  

 

 

To complete his point, he furthermore wrties, “segregation of white and colored children in the public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children.  The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group.  A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn.  Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.”

 

My response: So, Warren's argument boils down to three essential points;

 

1. Segregated schools cause a feeling of inferiority in specifically the black student.

2. This feeling of inferiority negatively affects the motivation of the black student. 

3. This lack of motivation permanently impedes a black student's ability to succeed.

 

While I doubt that C.J. Warren intends his argument to be inherently racist, I would argue that, ironically, it is.  Given that his argument mentions specifically that segregation negatively affects a black student and makes no mention that a white student is negatively affected, there must be an inherently better standard, given the same quality of amenities, of white schools over black schools.  That's a rather damning judgment of the ability of black education to compete with white education.

 

Furthermore, what about the interests of the white student?  The implication of Warren's statement is that, as white schools are better than black schools given the same opportunity to compete, to force the association of whites with blacks would result in a disadvantage for whites in the same manner as it would result in the advantage to blacks.  As Warren gives no voice to the whites in this equation, he completely discards the freedom of association established via the First Amendment that allows the people to peaceably assemble with whoever they choose.  Warren's argument is not only racist (against both races), it's unconstitutional.

 

Finally, if the unconstitutionality of his opinion is not convincing, maybe the some current data about achievement and race is.  

 

Sources: https://www.russellsage.org/sites/all/files/Fischer_Hout_Tables%20Figures.pdf , http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/amid-affirmative-action-ruling-some-data-on-race-and-college-enrollment-1328/

 

If Warren's opinion was at least correct in that black students would benefit in achievement to the level of whites given racially integrated schools, maybe the trampling on of the First Amendment rights of whites could be in some way justified...but it's completely wrong, and that data (as well as others) proves that.  You would expect generations of blacks to have an equal level of achievement following the implementation of integrated schools and it's simply not there. Simply put, at best, a persistent gap between black achievement and white achievement exists regardless of civil rights legislation and judicial opinion.

 

As a white man and student, I therefore see absolutely no benefit to the integration of the races and in fact, given the extremely anti-white sentiment in academia today, I see only a psychological disadvantage to myself in a way not entirely dissimilar to the feelings of inferiority that Judge Warren assumed plagued blacks during segregation.  Modern violent black riots, police assassinations, the BLM movement, the calling of white academic heads to step down, and the overall terrible relations between the races today serve as a stunning indictment that a supposed black inferiority complex still exists, and despite educational favoritism towards blacks via quotas.

 

In summation, the great irony is that this landmark case was established to give psychological relief and equal educational attainment to blacks, and not only achieved neither by any measure, but in fact laid the foundation for poor race relations and significant psychological distress for whites.

 

I welcome debate and discussion, thanks. 

 

[Mister Mister]

Interesting topic.  To me the big issue is that, in many places we now have a kind of forced integration rather than forced segregation.  My personal experience with this has recently become more clear to me  -----  I went to high school in a mostly white, upper middle class suburb, but our school was 40-50% black, and most of those kids were essentially "shipped" from outside the district, probably for funding reasons.  There was a great deal of racial tension in the school, between smarter and more motivated white and Asian kids, who felt guilty or afraid of race issues, and black kids who felt resentment.  Classes were split between Honors or AP classes, which were mostly white and Asian, with maybe two or three black kids on average, and CP or "College Prep" classes, which were mostly black but with some white kids as well - white kids who typically had the same kinds of problems as most of the blacks.  Many of the AP classes were probably among the most advanced in terms of curriculum, I studied Calculus, high level physics, very detailed history (though mostly Statist propaganda), and so on.  Many of the CP classes resembled the dysfunction of your average inner city school.  The lunch room was very self-segregated, the room was basically "L" shaped, with one wing mostly white and Asian, the other mostly black.  The black "wing" of the lunch room was fairly intimidating for a lot of us white kids, except the whites who were compatible with that culture --  I remember seeing fights regularly, and some of the black kids were really scary.  Of course the reverse was not true; the black kids who were good students but also good athletes, for example, could walk in both worlds.  There was also significant bullying that really only went one way: I was called "white-boy" and "cracker" and subject to intimidation from black kids more times than I can count. 

So basically it was as if there were two schools, with very different populations from different backgrounds, with different needs, that were just crammed together in the name of "diversity".  It was a problem everyone recognized, but I never totally understood it until recently.