Brown vs. Board of Education

 

      This week’s blog may be a bit all over the place, just an FYI. The website on Brown v. Board of Education, the article by Bob Herbert, and the videos featuring Tim Wise are all strongly related because they talk about the same topics of racial issues, segregation, and power. The videos and the article touch on more recent examples of this bias, but if anything they bring more insight to the issues.

      The website on Brown v. Board of Education explains what this movement did and what it means for society today. The act was passed and said that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, thus leading the nation into an era of desegregation. While this was no simple task and took decades to accomplish… even though we are still technically working out the kinks to complete racial acceptance…it was vital for the future of our schools.

      On the topic of racial acceptance, the videos featuring Tim Wise talk about just that. Tim Wise wrote a book Between Barack and a Hard Place, which talks about the racial issues the country still faces in the time of a black president. They talked in the video about the stereotypes that still cling to minorities, regardless of the actual statistics. I really enjoyed listening to the videos because they put into words exactly what everyone is thinking when it comes to combating racial issues and their causes. It’s just like Johnson believed, that we need to learn to say the words and not beat around the bush. Otherwise, nothing will ever be accomplished or changed. 

      The article by Bob Herbert talks about racism within schools today, but he explains that race is only an issue because it is tied to the economic issues of the students, who happen to be part of certain minorities. Instead of seeing a poorer school district and assessing its standings in terms of curriculum and learning environment, the schools are looked at as having a failing black or a failing Latino community, when race really has nothing to do with it.

      These sources made me think of McIntosh and “whiteness”. When Wise said that there is a level of acceptable whiteness, I automatically thought of McIntosh. Just because someone is white, they automatically have the upper hand in a situation, whether they are deserving of that position or not. Wise mentions in the video that mediocrity is only okay if you are white….obviously racist and untrue!!

I feel like I have a lot more that I want to say and explain in regards to this week’s blog, but again I am at a loss for words so I hope this does the job!