(Photo by MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP from Detroit Free Press)Excellent analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court's school desegregation cases by Warren Richey in the Christian Science Monitor. Yet, most of the mainstream media seemed to downplay the thousands of folks who marched on the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday.
"This is about what is left, if anything, of Brown v. Board of Education," Theodore Shaw, president of the NAACP Legal Defense & Ed Fund
In my San Francisco State Ethnic Studies classes, I am using this current teaching moment to dialogue in class about the political nature of the US Supreme Court and what Santa Clara Law School Professor Angelo Ancheta calls the 'conservatism of the legal system'. I am also trying provide my students with the historical context of civil rights, school reform, and educational justice movements. Video documentaries like 'Eyes on the Prize' and 'Chicano!' have been generally useful in helping students draw connections with what's happening today vs. during the civil rights, and Black and Brown power movements of the past, including the work of multiracial alliances like the Anti-Bakke Decision Coalition [ABDC] and the National Committee to Overturn the Bakke Decision [NCOBD] of the late 70's, and the 10 year old Californians for Justice [CFJ] which formed to resist Proposition 209 in the mid-90's. CFJ is celebrating its 10th anniversary this friday in Oakland. More info:
Eyes on the Prize on the Bakke Case
On the life of Richie Perez, ABDC activist, Young Lords leader and longtime organizer
See also Max Elbaum's historical timeline of the Bakke Era and the work of the NCOBD
1 comment:
Interesting post but Brown v. Board of Education needs to go. For too long whites and asians have been discriminated against. The Supreme Court should knock down all racial preferences that come before it.
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