Skip to main content

Separate and Unequal

 



Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored?

The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. 

It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal.

The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground.

It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds of Americans if they were not of a mind to change them.

On Thursday night five members of the Howard County Board of Education voted to reject a plan created by the Superintendent to address long standing neglect at Oakland Mills High School. These are their names:

Mallo

Watts

Chen

Ricks

Chamblee 

I have nothing to say about them today. No criticism, no characterization of why they voted. Their names are enough.

Oakland Mills High School continues to be a school with the most Black and Brown students with the most unmet financial need. This is the school that will not be renovated.

“Separate but equal.” What does that mean, exactly?

We know from experience that it means that privileged white people would like to be treated equally and fairly and then, if there’s anything left over, maybe we’ll think about those separate folks.

This is not the promise of public education. But it is the lived experience of those who are not valued. 

Do I think that the United States Supreme Court would honor the legal precedent of Brown v Board in Howard County, Maryland now?

Seems unlikely. What do you think? Our board has no reason to fear legal reckoning in 2026 from this SCOTUS.

Will the people of Howard County defend the rights of all students to learn even if our BOE and the Supreme Court will not?



Village Green/Town² Comments 


Comments

  1. Julia A. McCreadyFebruary 28, 2026 at 4:00 AM

    Please do not submit comments here. This function will be disabled shortly. Use the link above instead. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...
2 comments
Read more