Brown v. Board of Education: Week of 11-3-14

Title: Brown v. Board of Education: Equal Schooling for All
Author: Harvey Fireside and Sarah Fuller
Prompt: How does the book relate to modern time and events happening now.
Pages Read: 0-90

This book is about not only the case of Brown versus the Board of Education but also several other instances in the civil rights movement where black people went against schools and wanted equal rights. They all had to do with the Jim Crow law. This allowed whites and blacks to be separate in bathrooms, schools, and other public facilities. This was clearly unconstitutional but there were many excuses made like that a black and white school were receiving the same kind of funding which was a complete lie. After much battling and battling the court decided the children were being deprived of their liberty to choose where they wanted to go to school. This was huge news and would cause the whole nation to uproar. It was a victory for all those students who could not go to a good school because of their skin color and not their academic skills. The book is an excellent way to learn more in detail about all the process and work that went into several trials in cases of mistreatment of blacks in going to school.

This was a huge boost in the civil rights movement. After this more and more unfairness was being exposed and equality began to get better. Martin Luther King came around and helped fight for providing equality for all people of color. But at the same time there hasn't been a huge change in schools. True people of color have a lot more rights and are more equal now. But then again you look at schools and communities and you see a trend. There are all black schools, all latino schools, all white schools and it makes you wonder about our society. Has there really been that much change to be proud of enough to say we have gotten over that. True there are a lot mixed and diverse schools. But there are entire communities that are a huge majority one race. Generally more white populated areas have more money and better schools than generally black populated areas or latino populated areas. There has been a lot of change but society has this tendency of repeating itself. After all the work of those in the Brown versus Board and civil rights activists there are still the same things we saw then. Maybe now the difference is people don't view it as much as segregation, just habits to stay around the same race. Maybe it just doesn't want to be addressed.

Another more recent issue the nation faces now is black males specifically against police officers. Like what happened in Ferguson with the kid who was shot walking to his grandmothers house. Police officers let the power get to their head but its not only this, its of course racism. I haven't heard of a white male being shot after approaching or confronting an officer. I question, when did being a police officer not come with danger. Why is it that they can't use a taser or that they constantly feel their lives being threatened by the presence of a black male. This book better helps me understand the different ages and situation of racism and lack of equality in the US over time. It helps me better comprehend the stages of slavery, to the civil rights,  to some of the struggles that still live on in the modern day today. While we make great progress in certain areas there are others we forget about and become noticeable over time.