Silent covenants : Brown v. Board of Education and the unfulfilled hopes for racial reform
"When the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education was handed down in 1954, many civil rights advocates believed that the decision could become the Holy Grail of racial justice. Fifty years later, despite its legal irrelevance and the persistence of segregated and ineffective schooling for most black children, Brown is still viewed by many as the perfect precedent." "Derrick Bell here shatters this shining image of one of the Court's most celebrated rulings. He notes that prior to Brown and despite the onerous burdens of segregation, many black schools functioned well and racial bigotry had not rendered blacks a damaged race. And while Brown recognized racial injustice, it left racial barriers intact. Given what we now know about the pervasive nature of racism, the Court might better have determined - for the first time - to rigorously enforce the "equal" component of the "separate but equal" standard." "The experience with Brown, Bell urges, should teach us that meaningful progress in the quest for racial justice requires more than proof of blatant discrimination. Rather, we must devise tactics, take actions, and even adopt stances that expose and challenge these silent covenants that serve to maintain the racial status quo."--Résumé de l'éditeur
Ressources Internet
1 ressource en ligne (230 pages)
300407672
Plessy's long shadow
Brown's half light
Brown reconceived : an alternative scenario
The racial-sacrifice covenants
The interest-convergence "covenants
Brown as an anti-communist decision
The role of fortuity in racial policy-making
Racism's economic foundation
School litigation in the nineteenth century
The school desegregation era
The end of the Brown era
Brown as landmark : an assessment
Affirmative Action and racial fortuity in action
Searching for effective schools in the post-Brown era
Moving beyond racial fortuity
Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 3 oct. 2008)