May 16, 2014
Daughter of man who won landmark Brown v Board of Education case over right for black children to be taught alongside their white counterparts claims racism may still exist in schools
Cheryl Brown Henderson of The Brown Foundation and Daughter of Plaintiff Brown, left Photo: AOL TIME WARNER
May 16, 2014
Daughter of man who won landmark Brown v Board of Education case over right for black children to be taught alongside their white counterparts claims racism may still exist in schools
Cheryl Brown Henderson of The Brown Foundation and Daughter of Plaintiff Brown, left Photo: AOL TIME WARNER
Her father won the right for black children to be taught alongside their white counterparts in public schools across America.
But exactly 60 years on, Cheryl Henderson Brown is left wondering if racism still exists in the school system in her home town of Topeka, Kansas.
As the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling Brown v Board of Education of Topeka et al approaches on Saturday, Mrs. Henderson Brown questions why many of her neighbors seem unwilling to celebrate.
Last month, a petition organized by students resulted in Michelle Obama withdrawing from a high school graduation event which had been planned for this week to mark the anniversary.
They claimed the First Lady's presence at the ceremony would "overshadow" their big day.
But Mrs. Henderson Brown said: "There was a lot of pushback from parents saying 'This is my child's day, it's not about the First Lady.'
"It's an easy way to save face. But there has always been a little racism there, you have to admit that because race matters."
Her father, the Rev Oliver Brown, put his name to the historic class action brought on behalf of black children. It is thought that he was chosen as the named litigant in a class action from hundreds of cases across the country because organizers thought a man – and a pastor at that – would lend gravitas to the proceedings.
By any yardstick, Brown v Board of Education was a momentous staging post in the long battle for civil rights in the United States.
Until 1954, school districts could provide uneven educational quality in segregated classrooms under the specious notion of "separate but equal".
The Brown judgment brought an end to that, and while segregation did not end overnight, with infamous battles yet to take place in the 1960s across the Deep South, Topeka itself did immediately integrate, with Mrs. Henderson Brown herself one of the first to benefit.
The head of a foundation in Topeka which bears her father's name, Mrs. Henderson Brown was therefore thrilled when she learned that the White House planned to mark the anniversary in style, with the wife of the first black president addressing a combined graduation ceremony for five of the town's high schools.
Mrs/ Obama's attendance would have particular resonance in Topeka, where the student body is roughly 55 per cent non-white.
But opposition took off quickly. Taylor Gifford, 18, who began the petition, said students felt they would be overshadowed by Mrs. Obama's presence, and objected to the fact that the additional security involved in her attendance meant they would be limited to bringing six guests each.
She told local media: "People think it's a great opportunity, but it's the graduates' time. They are getting that diploma that they worked so hard for.
"Families are feeling that they are being cheated out of the loved ones' special day."
As the petition gathered pace, the White House announced that Mrs. Obama would skip the graduation event, and instead deliver remarks at a specially-convened "Senior Recognition Day" a day earlier.
While the White House was quick to play down any suggestion of racism in the campaign against Mrs. Obama's speech, Mrs. Henderson Brown is not so certain.
Asked if the campaign against Mrs. Obama's visit was racist, she said: "Boy, oh, boy. Was it totally motivated by concern over children being overshadowed? That's hard to say.
"This community is like every community. There are some segments who do express their racist sentiments openly, but most are unwilling to do that. So saying you are concerned about being overshadowed is a neat cover story. You and I will never be able to know if there was racism in that.
"There is still a lot of ambivalence here in Topeka about Brown v Board of Education. There is still a section of the society that doesn't think desegregation was that important. So it's still a struggle."
Mrs. Henderson Brown was 10 when her father died. The family had not discussed issues relating to civil rights and racism as she was growing up, and after his death her mother Leona's focus was on keeping the family together financially.
Mrs. Henderson Brown remains sad that her father never appreciated what a huge role he played in the history of the nation.
"My father died just seven years after Brown v Board of Education. I think about it all the time – I think how we missed having him here to tell his story. The best we can do is be a stand-in and keep telling people the importance of what happened."
Courtesy: Telegraph
