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'A Cruel Distortion of History'
The Roberts Supreme Court didn't reinstitute segregation as the law of the land in its recent ruling on Seattle's and Louisville's integration plans but in a land where schools are, in fact, still mostly segregated by race (and class), it does signal the death of integration; the end of King's dream; or at least, the abandonment of a means to a moral end envisioned by King.
To me, the most disturbing aspect about the Roberts Court's integration decision is the enshrining of a "cruel distortion of history," to borrow dissenting Justice Breyers' words.
The "cruel distortion," of course, is the appropriation of the Brown case and the dishonest neo-conservative claim to being the true heirs of the Civil Rights legacy.
As Professor Risa Goluboff put it in a recent Slate article, the Roberts Court transformed "an opinion championing racial equality (Brown) into one that countenances - even requires - continuing racial inequality and segregation in the name of the Constitution."
Ironically, the seeds for this co-optation were sown by Brown legal advocates themselves. Professor Goluboff notes: "the lawyers who directed the Brown litigation...intentionally set aside the actual inequalities between black and white schools in favor of a blanket prohibition," leaving the door open for Roberts to utter the either naíve or dishonest opinion that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
Unfortunately, the Roberts reading of Brown fails to take into account the broader historical context. Brown was intended to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, which was based on the legal premise that blacks were an inferior race. Brown was considered to be a starting point on the road to racial equality.
The trajectory was toward integration, as Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education (1969) - defining what the Court meant by desegregating "at all deliberate speed" - and Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971) show.
We were heading down Redress Past Wrongs Road. The plan wasn't to stop at formal non-discrimination and adhere to a judicial view that pretends race doesn't exist, or that systemic discrimination doesn't limit Constitutionally-protected life-opportunities.
Some folks say the ruling is a victory for the neo-conservative ideal of a "colorblind society." I can see how laissez-faire libertarians find such illusions comforting but social conservatives?
If the wages of sin are death, like the Bible says - and even the "saved" die - then perpetual racial awareness is the price we all pay for the sin of the fathers, founding a nation on the basis of white supremacy and on the backs of black slaves.
Because race-consciousness is inextricably tied to white-skin privilege - transmitting itself in one form or another in each successive generation - the ideal of a "color-blind society" is no ideal at all. Colorblindom is a land unreachable traveling on a segregated Bus of Best-Wishes. The boat leaving for Colorblindtopia left a looooong time ago.
And, at this point in history, "color-blindness" is so far from the reality, it's not even desirable to be "colorblind."
How can anyone truly appreciate the courage of a Sojourner Truth or a Martin Luther King without "seeing" race? How can we truly understand the strength of character and the historical significance of a Jackie Robinson without "seeing" race? How can the irony of a Jesse Owens going to Nazi Germany and embarrassing Hitler by winning four gold medals be truly grasped without understanding the history-altering impact of race on real-world conditions and outcomes? Would there be blues or jazz or hip hop in a "color-blind" society?
And, more importantly, how can we "see" societal patterns of racial injustice with "color-blind" analyses?
While there's been progress in race relations, it's not the kind of progress where we ought to be congratulating each other. Don't forget, it's been less than a hundred years since black folk were being lynched every three days, on average; as hundreds - sometimes thousands - of gleeful white "Christians" crowded around a dead, mutilated, black body, amid family picnics.
Where have all the lynch mobs and their children gone? And what happened to all those whose silent complicity allowed such terrorism to carry on? They're not all dead. On what miraculous day (or week, or year, or decade) did white America have this huge change of heart?
Yes, the days of state-sanctioned segregation are still a thing of the past and integration may not be the ultimate answer. But being color-blind is no way forward.
Sean Gonsalves is an assistant news editor with the Cape Cod Times and a syndicated columnist. He can be reached at sgonsalves@capecodonline.com
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20 Comments so far
Show AllCould it be that King george's buddy and leader of the Supreme Court is a racist?
Just one more notch on the gun of Big Brother. Wouldn't George Orwell just love living with this nightmare we call progress?
In an age of government p.r. anticipated by George Orwell the terms of discussion are framed carefully to seduce the listener:
"equality" = government required segregation by class and race
"terrorism" = attacks on Western targets, while Western attacks on "them" are part of the war for democracy and liberation
"liberation" = Western control of key energy resources and Neo-liberalism imposed through invasion
"democracy" = every few years selecting among one of two very similar choices annointed by elites.
This article raises an interesting and very important point. As "progressives" we seem to think of "color blindness" as the ultimate goal.
As an Italian American, i have no idea what life is like for an African American, or Hispanic American, Asian American or anyone else for that matter. But the differences among the people in our American culture give us our ultimate strength. Maybe we can just step back for a minute and appreciate the person sitting next to us.
Hey Josh,
"Terrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich." __Peter Eustinov
just thought you might like that
Orwell was a Prophet
SEAN: Good essay (as usual), and I appreciate your frequent literary references to support your contentions. Growing up in a Jewish family, my father spoke often about what happened in Germany. He fought in WW II and returned with 4 gun shot wounds, and retained a very acute sense of justice which he passed onto his children. Anyone who has not been a "minority" group in some society has more trouble establishing empathy with groups that have been marginalized from privilege and the decencies ordinary life ought delivery. This is a huge double whammy today in the US as elites set group upon group as they cut the pie slices tighter and tighter and watch the disempowered (the whole "anti immigration" hooplah) fight for crumbs. It would be wonderful if religions taught true justice and tolerance of differences. It would be wonderful if greed had not become the ersatz god of the 21st century, worshipped by Wall St and celebrated at nauseum in print and broadcast media. The clock is being turned back on a great many things, but I take heart from a lesson learned from nature: the ocean moves to endless undulating rhythms as waves roll UNDER themselves (to appear to go backwards) in order to gain forward momentum. For all the current climate of repression and tangled restrained liberties, imagine the size of the building progressive wave. Inevitable.
Siouxrose:
Was about to post regarding you. Welcome back-have missed your thoughts.
Hi Klever, I enjoy my virtual friends on this site. My step Mother passed away, and it's been a hectic two weeks. Now I "feel like a motherless child." No matter our beliefs on reincarnation, a loss is still a loss, and it takes something of us along with it. My Grandson was born when my father died... wonder what (re) birth will come now? Thanks for asking.
Neo cons, and perhaps conservatives in general, have either no awareness of history or only a very selective knowledge of it. Power inequalities do not arise sui generis, but emerge and are maintained and fortified through generation after generation of social and cultural practices. "Black," "Jew," "Mexican," "Indian," etc. have meanings that are culturally loaded. To pretend that everyone has an equal shot at the "prize" is to ignore history and to preserve inequalities. Until we start dealing with the truths of history and the reasons why our society privileges some and punishes others, we will never get closer to our purported ideal of equal opportunity for all.
"As an Italian American, i have no idea what life is like for an African American, or Hispanic American, Asian American or anyone else for that matter."
At the beginning of the 20th century Italians in America were thought of as non-white.
Hey Doc.
My Grandmother used to powder her arms so she looked white. I know what you are saying. I just think it would be nice if we could try to not be 'color blind' but maybe 'color appreciative.'
"At the beginning of the 20th century Italians in America were thought of as non-white."
As were the Irish! Now that's funny...
When there's a discrepancy between what you say you believe and what you actually do, there are three ways to handle it:
1) You can change your actions to conform to your beliefs
2) You can change your beliefs to conform to your actions
3) You can deny that any discrepancy exists.
If you do the first, you're an idealist; if you do the second, you're a pragmatist; if you do the third, you're a politician.
Little did I suspect that AWARENESS of racial inequality was the CAUSE of racial inequality.
SJ
www.spartacusjones.com
Sosyomamma: As per color appreciative. I recently completed a book that I consider a composite of a lifetime of study. As a former English teacher, it mortifies me that today's students are being conformed to produce on standardized tests, robbed of the chance to truly develop minds capable of critical reasoning. This "one size fits all" standard is seen in medicine, education, and even agriculture (mono culture, it's called). Using the premise of a Divine template based upon 12 distinct facets, these could be Jesus' disciples, Abraham's tribes, the zodiac signs, or colors from the rainbow... all are necessary for the intended functioning of the whole. All are equal. The circle poses no basis for hierarchical privilges, it gives everyone an equal place. I will likely self publish this as editors and agents, reflecting the sensibilities of the often Republican corporations that have bought out media in all its forms, see my work as "not commercial." That could be a buzz word for too progressive, too. In any case, there ARE models that HONOR all... but these challenge the traditional bastians of power and shake the tree of their self-proclaimed legitimacy, a legacy that has flowed down the ages producing the same mindsets that repeatedly enter into war and conflict. Whatever persons survive the next 20 years of climate change, possible 3rd world war, and economic devaluations... will require a new model, one that transcends the ism divisions that have torn the peace circle asunder. As Einstein himself stated, "No problem can be solved at the level of thinking that brought it about." So true.
Siouxrose:
The snake eating it's tail.
I'd be very interested in reading your book. Please advise.
Sosyomomma: These on demand Internet publishers are very fast & efficient. Should be ready in 2 months... it's a tribute to my parents, now both deceased. (In astrology Saturn can be seen as the old god Chronos who holds the hourglass... from it pass the sands of our lives. Saturn is understood as the planet that is related to fate, the cycles that impact our lives but are not a direct cause of our supposed free will. Saturn has been in Leo, my sign, since July 2005. I was born with Sun--father/Yang, and Moon-mother/Yin both in Leo and just like cosmic clockworks, Saturn first took my father, then two weeks ago, my step Mom. I see the influences but when they operate in textbook manner, it still blows my mind. Another example, a few years ago I did some on-line dating and would always ask men for their dates of birth as this way I could see if there was any cause for chemistry or even deeper union. There was a guy I was very drawn to and he didn't even has his photo posted. His sun at 24 Leo was on my moon at 23. Carl Jung used astrology and predicted with 90% accuracy who was married to whom on the basis of the sun-moon interfacing. I told this guy that we had Venus with mars and sun with moon... i.e. BOTH sets of Yin-Yang communion, and it was an unbelievable connection. I think the heat and intensity scared him, but we connected for a few years. Astrology was right on. It's helped me understand why "bad" things happen to "good" people, allowed me to counsel people to help them let go of things in their past that wounded them, etc. I minored in psychology but never felt it explored the deeper roots of past lives and how the natal chart is its own "coded coputer chip" of enormous amounts of data that testify to what the soul has accumulated over past lifetimes. This is where noted mystic, Edgar Cayce, used the phrase, "entity is meeting self.")
Long answer to your question! I self publish with iUniverse.com and xLibris.com
"The world is more and more of a neighborhood. But is it any more of a brotherhood? If we don't learn to live together as brothers and sisters, we shall perish together as fools." -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except Negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics.' When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty -- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." -- Abraham Lincoln
Touché, Phatty. I hope you don't mind if i spread that Lincoln quote far and wide.
The United States is not a "color blind" society; it is blind. Americans as a group are so brainwashed they are incapable of rational thought; indeed they cannot think at all, especially for themselves. Hence all the quasi-fascist media such as "talk radio" and Fox News.
How ignorant can a person be to believe you solve a problem by denyings its existence? Using such logic, there is no climate change because Bush the Genius says so; there is no homophobia because the Church deems it a sin & there's no separation between church and state anymore (there is no Bill of Rights); there is no hunger because some people eat the wrong foods; there is no housing shortage because you find vacancies in upper class districts; the deceits go on and on and you have to be an absolute idiot to believe them.
What I wonder is, when will Americans discover that they hold actual power AND DO SOMETHING? I do not understand Americans at all: people do not "disappear" in the U.S. as in Guatamala, nor do they end up in concentration camps as in Nazi Germany, yet Americans are absolutely terrified of their government. A people must stand up for what is right, not what is convenient, and the time to do so is now. So what is everybody waiting for?