June 29, 2007
The SC overturns deseg plans
What's the practical effect of the SC decision overturning racial quotas as a basis for desegregation plans? It will dramatically alter the racial profiles of schools across the country. It may also be the one thing that saves public education in this country.
Yeah, I'm not entirely sold on this being a bad thing.
For one, deseg orders were part of an era when populations were willfully separated. To this day, I still see restrictive covenants on title to real property prohibiting it's sale to 'negros', 'asians' and almost every other ethnic group. I've even seen one that covers 'those who exhibit moral turpitude'. Not exactly enlightened times. That era was also known for a practice in lending called redlining, not to mention willfully discriminating against those deemed undesirable on the basis of race, a practice that is now a violation of federal law. Those restrictive covenants are thoroughly unenforceable.
On the other side, the Constitution is now officially colorblind in all matters. To quote our learned Chief Justice...
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” he said. His side of the debate, the chief justice said, was “more faithful to the heritage of Brown,” the landmark 1954 decision that declared school segregation unconstitutional.
No, really, John, you're an idiot. Seriously, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Fucktard.
The conservatives (AKA, the stupidiots), think that they have struck a blow against discrimination. By banning all discrimination based on race, no matter how well intentioned. Clarence Thomas seems especially proud of himself. Kennedy, who voted with the majority, provides the limiting guidance on the majority...
In a separate opinion that could shape the practical implications of the decision and provide school districts with guidelines for how to create systems that can pass muster with the court, Justice Kennedy said achieving racial diversity, “avoiding racial isolation” and addressing “the problem of de facto resegregation in schooling” were “compelling interests” that a school district could constitutionally pursue as long as it did so through programs that were sufficiently “narrowly tailored.”
Though the NYT doesn't read this as a slap down of the majority, it very much is. These cases were about individual children. What Kennedy is doing with his separate opinion is giving guidance on integration plans that won't be based on individuals but will, instead, be based on a broader communities.
Among the measures that Justice Kennedy said would be acceptable were the drawing of school attendance zones, “strategic site selection of new schools,” and directing resources to special programs. These would be permissible even if adopted with a consciousness of racial demographics, Justice Kennedy said, because in avoiding the labeling and sorting of individual children by race they would satisfy the “narrow tailoring” required to meet the equal protection demands of the 14th Amendment.
I wrote earlier that this may be the decision that saves public schools and I think it will be because for one thing it will force school districts to focus on overall demographics of a school population, not as much on individual students. This will hopefully keep kids in schools closer to their homes, increasing parent involvement and student achievement while maintaining racial diversity. It's a hell of a lot better than bussing little Johnny and Jenny across town because of the color of their skin.
Further, one can hope it will also force those who care about schools to get more involved in making sure that all schools are well maintained for all students. Which was the goal of Brown in the first place.
Posted by mcblogger at June 29, 2007 03:10 PM
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