The Hollow Hope

This article brings up the biggest dilemma I encountered while reading. It asks you whether the violence, teasing and sacrifices endured by black students trying to integrate into school systems is worth attaining the law that all schools must be "desegregated with all deliberate speed"? When I began this article I wasn't sure that it would have been such a big problem. Then I remembered watching movies like Remember the Titans of how bad black students were treated. It might be cheesy that I connected to a sports movie, but this was the closest connection I had with the 1960s.

I cannot give an opinion about whether Cooper vs. Aaron should have been rejected or not, because it's not my place. I can sit here and say the United States laws are meant to be followed no matter what, but its not that simple. If there's one thing we learned in Law and Society, its that law is much more complicated than anyone thought. The law goes beyond just right and wrong, but rather what right and what wrong. My point is that every decision by a court, rejection or law that is passed is different and the outside factors are extremely important.

We see that with Brown vs. the Board of Education that people even black people were upset with the decision. And this decision was supposed to help those black people. So what does that say? The Civil Rights movement and the Brown case were both trying to move in the same direction far more quickly than anyone had thought. Forcing black people into all white schools might not have been the right move to make at first. I just have to wonder.

The truth is that something needs to be done. We have come a far way from the 1960s but the fact is, there still needs to be work done. The desegrgation techniques haven't failed completely, but haven't succeeded completely either. That's one of the opinions I formed from learning about this. Rosenberg goes into some detail about other cases in the 60s and 70s and their effects. I found his statistics interesting about the Southern states and their desegreation rates. Obviously there was not a quick and concise social movement that took place. It took a long time and with much effort.

The WHole United States is Southern

This article really clarified some questions I had after reading Bell's Brown vs. Board of Article. Thsi focuses more on facts and I enjoyed it. I found out how the South vs. North issue has impacted the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Forcing people to go to school together and live together who don't like each other might not always work. That's one of the main themes I extracted from Payne's article.

This article also clarified some things I had about how the decision affected everyone. It shows how in the South, everyone didn't think the same as where the Supreme Court was decided. Not everyone was pleased to be putting their black children in the middle of a social movement. I think that it had to happen at one point and the children in the 50s and 60s during the Civil Rights Movement got that job.

We still have a long way to go and this article claims that. Just as slavery took a long time to overcome, complete integration will as well. It obviously can take longer in some well segregated areas and it will definitely more difficult. The Brown vs. Board of Education may not have compeltely taken into account that notion. Although they passing down the law as what schools must do and get of rid, it wasn't that easy.

There still needs to be a strategic way of continuing this social change. It isn't about sterotypes and who did what. It's about everyone thinking about racial eqaulity together. No law can change how a society was directed to think for years and years. This article emphasizes that both sides to meet halfway. It can't just be somethign declared by a court or state. The attitudes have to both be there and the stats have to change. 53 percent of southern blacks agreeing with Brown vs. Board of Education in 1955 won't cut it.

Brown vs. Board of Education and Interest-Conversgence Dilema

I found this article extremely interesting to read. Yet I didn't agree with much of it. When I first started reading it I got the feeling that it absolutely a proganda article that focused on numbers, stats and different theories that continued to not be proven.

I remember my grandpa telling me about the Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 and how important it was for everyone. This article says that it's not that simple. It says that once again whites are behind a goal to control the United States and racial equality. I don't buy it. I found stereotype after sterotype concerning Professor Herbert Wechsler, and ultimately Professor Charles Black. There were theories talked about how integration hurts blacks more than whites, or whites just won't accept social equality. I think we need to give it a chance and not focus on just negative aspects from Brown vs. Board of Ed.

After seeing how some people viewed this Supreme Court case, I formed my own opinion. I thought of how this article only talks about how the desegregation would hurt blacks from an educational standpoint. I think that integration teaches more than just book smarts. For someone to say the United States goal of desegregation is controversial and meant to keep blacks at a disadvantage is hard for me to take. I found this article somewhat confusing so I hope I understood it right.

In all of these generalizations and small target group that was looked at I formed another question. If people are unhappy with the techniques used after Brown vs. Board, what are some alternatives? This article gave a lot of information on the courts, theories and issues, but not how to necesarily solve them. That's my problem. This issue doesn't seem like such an issue inretrospect. I realize my opinion is completely biased, but I just don't like seeing the race card get pulled. Instead of that approach I would love to see ways to work on it and make changes if they need to be made.