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CIVIL RIGHTS, RACE, AND THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: TODAY AND TOMORROW ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If the need for the racial classifications embraced by the school districts is unclear, even on the districts’ own terms, the costs are undeniable. “[D]istinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Adarand, 515 U.S., at 214. Government action dividing us by race is inherently suspect because such classifications promote “notions of racial inferiority and lead to a politics of racial hostility,” Croson, supra, at 493, “reinforce the belief, held by too many for too much of our history, that individuals should be judged by the color of their skin,” Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 657 (1993), and “endorse race-based reasoning and the conception of a Nation divided into racial blocs, thus contributing to an escalation of racial hostility and conflict.” Metro Broadcasting, 497 U.S., at 603 (O’Connor, J., dissenting). As the Court explained in Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 517 (2000) , “[o]ne of the principal reasons race is treated as a forbidden classification is that it demeans the dignity and worth of a person to be judged by ancestry instead of by his or her own merit and essential qualities.” All this is true enough in the contexts in which these statements were made— government contracting, voting districts, allocation of broadcast licenses, and electing state officers—but when it comes to using race to assign children to schools, history will be heard. In Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), we held that segregation deprived black children of equal educational opportunities regardless of whether school facilities and other tangible factors were equal, because government classification and separation on grounds of race themselves denoted inferiority. It was not the inequality of the facilities but the fact of legally separating children on the basis of race on which the Court relied to find a constitutional violation in 1954. (“‘The impact [of segregation] is greater when it has the sanction of the law’”). The next Term, we accordingly stated that “full compliance” with Brown I required school districts “to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a nonracial basis.” Brown II, 349 U.S. at 300–301 (emphasis added). The parties and their amici debate which side is more faithful to the heritage of Brown, but the position of the plaintiffs in Brown was spelled out in their brief and could not have been clearer: “[T]he Fourteenth Amendment prevents states from according differential treatment to American children on the basis of their color or race.” What do the racial classifications at issue here do, if not accord differential treatment on the basis of race? As counsel who appeared before this Court for the plaintiffs in Brown put it: “We have one fundamental contention which we will seek to develop in the course of this argument, and that contention is that no State has any authority under the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to use race as a factor in affording educational opportunities among its citizens.” There is no ambiguity in that statement. And it was that position that prevailed in this Court, which emphasized in its remedial opinion that what was “[a]t stake is the personal interest of the plaintiffs in admission to public schools as soon as practicable on a nondiscriminatory basis,” and what was required was “determining admission to the public schools on a nonracial basis” (emphasis added). What do the racial classifications do in these cases, if not determine admission to a public school on a racial basis? 144
John G. Roberts, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before Brown, schoolchildren were told where they could and could not go to school based on the color of their skin. The school districts in these cases have not carried the heavy burden of demonstrating that we should allow this once again—even for very different reasons. For schools that never segregated on the basis of race, such as Seattle, or that have removed the vestiges of past segregation, such as Jefferson County, the way “to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a nonracial basis,” is to stop assigning students on a racial basis. The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. The judgments of the Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Ninth Circuits are reversed, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings. It is so ordered. 145
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THE MEANING OF MARTIN LUTHER KING J
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Copyright © 2013, editorial matter
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Martin Luther King Jr., “I’ve B
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The Origins and Traditions of Marti
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MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY: AN AMER
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A Brief History of the Civil Rights
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On the Situation in Little Rock: A
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Remarks on Signing the Bill Making
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Remarks at the Martin Luther King J
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The Civil Rights Cases FREDERICK DO
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THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE AND
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On Being Crazy W. E. B. DU BOIS In
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The Battle Royal from Invisible Man
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How It Feels to Be Colored Me ZORA
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From Notes of a Native Son JAMES BA
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God Bless America JOHN O. KILLENS T
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3 The Civil Rights Movement
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Freedom Songs We begin this chapter
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Lift Every Voice and Sing JAMES WEL
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Page 102 and 103: This Little Light of Mine HARRY DIX
Page 104 and 105: THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ---------
Page 106 and 107: I Have a Dream MARTIN LUTHER KING J
Page 108 and 109: Neighbors DIANE OLIVER Integration
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Page 118 and 119: I’ve Been to the Mountaintop MART
Page 120 and 121: Movement Tactics and Strategy
Page 124 and 125: Food That Pleases, Food to Take Hom
Page 128 and 129: Letter from Birmingham Jail MARTIN
Page 130 and 131: Address to the 1964 National Baptis
Page 138 and 139: The Ballot or the Bullet MALCOLM X
Page 140 and 141: Solve for X DIANA SCHAUB The final
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Page 146 and 147: CIVIL RIGHTS, RACE, AND THE AMERICA
Page 152 and 153: Affirmative Action from The Content
Page 154 and 155: Harrison Bergeron KURT VONNEGUT JR.
Page 162 and 163: Family, Religion, and Culture
Page 164 and 165: The Moral Obligations of Living in
Page 166 and 167: Everyday Use ALICE WALKER Families
Page 168 and 169: Growing Up Colored HENRY LOUIS GATE
Page 170 and 171: The Black Table, the Empty Suit, an
Page 172 and 173: About the Cover James Karales Selma
Page 174 and 175: Acknowledgments Grateful acknowledg
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