Talking Points: #7: "One More River to Cross"-Recognizing the Real Injury in Brown

Charles Lawrence

Argument:

Charles Lawrence argues that the courts failed to recognize the institutional impact of segregation on labeling blacks inferior and how simply desegregating the school system was not enough but that we need to challenge the systems of segregation as well as the ideologies in which they stand.

Quotes:

1. "The second is that blacks are injured by the existence of the system or institution of segregation rather than by particular segregation acts."

It seems like Lawrence is saying that the idea or ideology of segregation is what causes inequality or a feeling of inferiority among blacks rather than the action itself. It is the systems or the ideologies that must be challenged fundamentally in order for real change to take place. Just like the SCWAAMP activity we did in class, it is not enough to simply treat everyone as equals, we must go a step further and recognize the ideologies of the institution.


2. "in the North, state action is absent because segregated schools occured as the result of segregated housing patterns."

I found this fact particularly interesting because we are a product of our environment. In this case it was not the schools who were segregating the students but society. As a result of the segregation of society the schools inherently became segregated.

3. "Black children will remain 'less qualified' until we gain representative influence in both the institutions of preparation and the institutions for which they are being prepared."

I think that this quote is particularly important because it shows that merely preparing students of minority to be successful in a dominant society is not enough. We must change the ideology of the dominant society because no matter how much we prepare students to be successful they will still be constricted by the dominant ideology of society.

Comments/Questions/Points to Share:

I think that this article was interesting. I had a difficult time getting through parts of it because of some of the vocabulary but I think I was able to grasp the over all idea. I think that Lawrence's argument is true. Brown vs. the Board of Education was a step in the right direction and it certainly opened doors that were not previously opened before but that there is much more to do, to change the injures effects of segregation on blacks in America. Just like Oakes argued in her article about tracking it is not enough to simply change the act of segregation and put students together but we must go further to change the ideologies created by segregation. Just like Kozol's article about Mot Haven it is like putting a "band-aid on a broken leg." It does not help the black children to simply put them together with the white children but we must go further and change how people think about segregation. It is the institution rather than the individual that must be challenged.