Brown vs Board of Education...

Brown vs Board of Education...
A Time to Reflect

Sixty-three years ago, May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court voted unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. It seems strange that we are celebrating in America the issue that “all men are created equal.” One would have thought that was a given centuries ago. This is especially questionable since Brown vs Board of Education occurred in my lifetime. Thurgood Marshall argued the case successfully before the Court.

Segregated schools ruled unconstitutional

Interestingly, Marshall was appointed as a justice to the Supreme Court a dozen years after winning Brown vs Board of Education.

Thurgood Marshall

America fought the Civil War due to slavery. While the North won the war, they lost the peace. The South went from slavery to segregation. It was our version of apartheid while maintaining that whites and blacks were equal. Blacks lived under Jim Crow laws and attitudes, especially in the South. Think about that. Finally, sixty-three years ago, the Supreme court decided that blacks and whites were entitled to an “equal educational opportunity.” The Supreme Court decided unanimously, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

To make matters even more appalling, there was widespread negative reaction to any effort to address the inequality issues in education, employment, housing, voting, and many other racial issues. There were politicians and people in general throughout our country opposed to treating all people as equal.

It was another decade before Lyndon Johnson got the two major civil rights bills passed. The Civil Rights Act was signed on July 2, 1964, and the Voting Rights Act was signed on August 6, 1965. It seems that white America slowly woke up to the reality of discrimination, segregation, and injustice. I wonder whether black America realized that they had been treated unequally since the first slave boats came to America. Blacks are facing all sorts of discrimination whether at schools, work, or even when voting. Many states are limiting the amount of days that polling centers are open.

While the black/white issue is still not totally resolved, it has become the backstory to discrimination of Muslims and Mexicans. Granted, the names of groups have changed, but people are still being discriminated against. The operative word is still some sort of segregation.

One of the benefits of having danced with death a couple times is that I realize that I am not immortal. All of us logically know that we won’t live forever. Nonetheless, do the dance, and you realize that truth at the gut level. I get that reality. Because of that, I am haunted by the word, legacy. What will I leave the world, and how will I be remembered after I am gone?

Now, this is addressed to you. Think about your legacy. From the fake president, Donald the Dumb, Congress, other political leaders, to the ordinary American citizen needs to think about how they will be remembered. There are all too many fools on the hill already. Your family and friends will remember you when you are no longer alive. The only question is what will be your legacy?

The Last Lecture