The Unequal Separation Of African Americans

In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Jonathan Kozol brings our attention to the apparent growing trend of racial segregation within America’s urban and inner-city schools (309-310). Kozol provides several supporting factors to his claim stemming from his research and observations of different school environments, its teachers and students, and personal conversations with those teachers and students.

In the 1960’s, black and white individuals were not recognized as being equal. The two races were treated differently, and the African Americans did not enjoy the same freedoms as the whites. The African Americans never had a chance to speak their mind, voice their opinions, or enjoy the same luxuries that the white people attained. Through various actions/efforts like the lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and bus boycotts, the black people confronted segregation face on and worked to achieve equality and freedom.

Until now reading the different laws associated with the separation of blacks and whites from years ago, I had no true idea the challenges African Americans face on a day to day basis. Truly, I still don’t since I do not live it, but reading them makes me sad thinking of how people treat other human beings. I am glad these laws are no longer valid and thankful for the people who took a stand fighting for the rights of all people, including white and black. All of the Jim Crow laws seek keeping the black population segregated disguised as “separate, but equal.” Determining which three I find most troubling is difficult due to the fact they are all so hard to imagine.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

Systematic racism within education Institutions, such as the lack of adequate funding as well as subtle discrimination, continues to be the root of the problem that plagues this nation. Even though segregation was abolished in 1964, the lingering effects that remain are significant and cannot be passively mended. Although it is tempting to think that this prejudice is caused by a select few and not the many, it is clear that this problem holds more depth. Recent studies conducted by the National Education Studies (NEA) have proven that even in school’s African American students are often times targeted and punished at a significantly higher rate when compared to their white peers. The study states “Black students make up almost 40 percent of all school expulsions [in the] nation, and more than two thirds of students referred to police from schools are either black or Hispanic” (Blacks: Education Issues). This study conducted by the Department of Education, cabinet-level department of the United States

This chapter elaborates on how racism has a negative impact on African American education, in which has been happening for many decades and is currently taking place. Furthermore, it speaks about segregation and how it currently exists in different ways. Additionally, it speaks on how segregation not only exist in one school, but it likewise exists across the school districts. It speaks on how segregation in these schools has a negative impact on students’ academic success and future success.

In 1954 the Supreme Court saw a case called Brown v. Board of Education of Kansas. This case was about segregation of public schools but before this was to be found unconstitutional, the school system in Kansas and all over the United States had segregated schools. For example, Topeka Kansas had 18 neighborhood schools for white children, but only 4 schools for African American children. (Brown v. Board of Education) Many people believe that the problem is no longer existent; however, many present day African American students still attend schools that are segregated. This problem goes all the way back to the 18th and 19th centuries when slavery was prevalent, yet still to this day it has not come to an end. Complete racial integration has yet to happen in many areas. This problem is not only in the Kansas City School District, but all over the country. The segregation of races in schools can impact a student’s future greatly. The Kansas City school district has been known to have the most troubled school’s systems for a long time.(Source) I’m sure the school board is well aware of the problem of racial inequality that is before them, but I will help them become more aware of the problem and how it affects a student’s future. In today’s society it is commonly overlooked on how important the subject of racial segregation really is. In this memo I will discuss the topics of racial socialization and school based discrimination in Kansas City, and the resulting effects that

Is racial segregation in schools coming back from the past to haunt our primary and secondary students? In the essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid” by Jonathan Kozol talks about how racial segregation is making a comeback and is becoming particularly apparent between low-income urban cities and wealthy upper suburban areas. In this essay, Kozol talks about his visits to these urban schools that aren’t getting much attention. These schools where the majority are kids of color and seem to be lacking resources that other “uptown” schools wouldn’t lack. Throughout the essay he gives the reader statistics of the demography of schools in different areas of the east coast. This really helps the reader understand his point of how racial

The desired integration between minority and majority groups in schools has not been fulfilled. All white schools are no longer allowed to occur since the Brown decision (Hannah, 2014). Therefore, based on racial means, the schools system would be perceived as more balanced. However, apartheid schools, or schools with virtually all non-white groups, have become prominent (Segregation Today, n.d.). Institutions filled with minority races are legal and lead to inequalities between the minority and majority groups in the country. Factors, like poverty, are greatly centered in these schools which detrimentally affect the attendees’ future, as based on findings by a Southern Poverty Law Center (Segregation Today, n.d.). This center specializes in legal advocacy of civil rights and public interest litigations,and therefore, has an immense amount of knowledge on the interbalance between races. Clearly, the Brown v. Board ruling forced integration into white schools but not the same manner for black schools. This, in turn, concentrates poverty into the non-white schools .

Many aspects of African-American’s life were segregated from that of the rest of the population. African-Americans could not use the same water fountains or purchase items from the same markets as the “whites”. Certain shops would have a sign in front of them that would inform anyon that may chose to shop there if there race was allowed to be there. Most shops that allowed African-Americans would force them to use the back entrance etc.

As children we are taught to love and accept other, however, this is not always the case. More often than not we never taught to love those different from us, instead we go on through life only loving those who are similar to us, our unintentional intolerance remaining uncorrected. Growing up without that nurturing hand teaching us to live in a world that is far more diverse than it has ever been, leaves us as intolerant and uneducated adults, whether it is, or is not, by our own doing. In American society, time and time again, the failure to practice what is preached in our so-called values has been our only success. From the segregation of African-Americans to the oppression of Women, and now the fearful and sometimes violent discrimination against LGBTQ oriented individuals is the nation’s most recent atrocity. By standardizing the image of what love and the human identity is to a typical heterosexual individual, society is limiting the diversity of the nation and degrading the lives of so many valuable people. What’s more is the fact that this intolerance that is permeating all levels of society is almost centralized in the most significant aspect of any society: its schools. Schools everywhere are ignoring the high concentration of LGBTQ discrimination by their students and even faculty. It is extremely hard to believe that this kind of behavior is tolerated in schools, not to mention the fact of its being taught in churches all across the nation. With

For example, at a time in our country, it was illegal for a person of African decent to read or write. The punishment of this action was death. Because laws cannot stop action, the African American people continued to learn to read and write, BUT they had to do so in secret. The African American person had to risk their life to receive a education which was defined by Horace Man, as the "greatest equalizer of men". These laws were overturned and found unconstitutional. Today we find these laws bizarre but they are a very real party of our history. When the basic rights of people are taken away people still find a way to be in control of their futures.

The historical events that shaped the social and political status of African American education between 1910 and 1960 revolved mainly around the issues of slavery. The constrained African American education was mainly applied as a method quelling fears of slavery rebellions, which intensified the African American people’s desire for education. After the abolition of slavery, education for African American people was consigned to poorly funded and segregated educational institutions. Racial segregation in the US was a term that included segregation of services and facilities including medical care, education, housing, transportation, and employment along racial lines. This implies that segregation referred to social and legal enforced separation

Political inequality has been an obstacle that many minority groups have encountered throughout history. The segregation and subjugation of African Americans in the United States during the 1900s was indifferent. Although innumerable people were opposed to the unfamiliar ideals of anti-segregation activists, George Edwin Taylor went against the standards of society, and explored new civil morals. Through his endeavors, he was able to encourage people to divert from their accepted beliefs and helped establish a foundation for the yet-to-come Civil Rights Movement.

As I learn more about the realities of education, there was one issue that sparked my interest and passion – segregation. Though it is difficult to see first-hand, I can definitely see remnants of segregation through comparison of resources available at schools I’ve worked at. My belief that education serves as an accessible tool for social mobility led me to explore the issue of segregation with the perspective of a future educator. Over 50 years ago in the Brown v. Board of Education case, the Supreme Court deemed that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. With this in mind, I was under the impression that schools were not segregated (at least to a far lesser extent). However, I was shocked to learn that segregation in schools