Talking Point #7 - Lawrence

Argument: Lawrence argues that Brown vs. The Board of Education was a bunch of crap because the courts did not address the segregation topic and african americans were still nervous. the courts basically hoped nothing would really pass. and I'm sure they didn't try.

1) "Once it is understood that the injury results from the existence of the label of inferiority, it becomes clear that the cure must involve the removal of that label. The mere placement of black and white children in the same school does not remove the brand imprinted by years of segregation." 

To me this quote means that in order to remove the label of black inferiority to whites, were going to have to do a lot more than stick them in the same school and hope for the best. Years worth of black inferiority is not going to go away in a day and those stinging years for the blacks make it difficult and scary to be put into the lions cage with hungry lions. Whites would have to accept the blacks but after years and years of hate; it doesn't seem like it would happen very fast. i mean there's still segregation to some degree today and there is absolutely still racism.

2) " It could be argued that the Northern and Southern cases are distinguishable on the basis of state action; in the South, state action is present because state laws required the operation of dual school systems, while in the North, state action is absent because segregated schools occurred as the result of segregated housing patterns. This distinction, however, neglects the entire history of segregation in America.

Segregation is Northern, not Southern in origin. The exclusion or segregation of blacks in public facilities was settled policy and reached considerable maturity in the North before moving South in full force"

I did NOT know that segregation started in the North. I mean, I'm sure i knew it but i certainly don't remember. I always was taught that the South was the big place for segregation, discrimination and racism. i know that it was in the north too but i always learned that it was huge in the south. RI was the last state to get rid of slavery and that kind of sucks but it proves this point in the quote i chose. Newport and Bristol were actually the biggest areas for slave trade in NE. i live in Bristol and i also think it sucks that slavery was so big there.

for people to be segregated out of white schools in the north was so common because there was a segregation on where they were allowed to live. it reminds me of jewish ghettos in the holocaust for christ sakes.

3) "Perhaps the most detrimental effect of the court's refusal to acknowledge the true nature and scope of the institution of segregation has been the resulting failure of the judiciary, and ultimately the public at large, to recognize a constitutional right to the affirmative destruction of that institution."

The courts failure to recognize segregation at the magnitude it is truly at is totally not helpful to trying to get rid of segregation in general. it is not helping the merging of blacks and whites in school one bit and  the general public (being white dominant) is surely not helping the cause. White parents do NOT want their white children to go to school with the enemy (basically how they are viewed) and Black parents were afraid to let their children go to school with whites even though it was their right legally because their children would be hated and in most cases harmed. It was basically a loose loose situation then and it took a really long time for acceptance to set in.

In all this article was ok. it was kind of lengthy but it stirred emotions about racism and i was appalled to learn that the town i live in was huge on slave trade. (it wasn't in the article but i used outside sources to further my knowledge on the subject). i think if the people then could see who our president elect was right now they would crap them selves; blacks and whites.

i think it would be great to go back in time and tell them that in the future the president will be black and alot of white people voted for him. to tell them that schools have all kinds of races and ethnicities now and its really not a problem. whites are best friends with blacks, blacks have the same opportunities as whites, blacks have the chance to be rich. they have the chance to be american icons like Oprah. its awesome. =]