62nd Anniversary of Brown V. Board of Education

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 62 years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down laws permitting racially segregated schools in 17 States and the District of Columbia.

The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, the notorious 1896 decision that found racially segregated schools could be, ``separate but equal.'' The Court unanimously held that laws requiring racial segregation in schools violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and recognized that equal access to education is a fundamental civil right. In the Brown v. Board opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, ``in the field of public education, the doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.''

As I have said before, this historic decision was the most important Supreme Court decision of the 20th century--and perhaps of all time. Shortly after the decision, the New York Times published an editorial that stated: ``The Supreme Court's historic decision in the school desegregation cases brings the United States back into the mainstream of its own best traditions. Segregation is a hangover of slavery, and its ugliest manifestation has been in the schools.''

While the Brown decision was a historic victory for equality, this anniversary is bittersweet. We have made great progress in the last 62 years, but there is much work that remains to be done to create ``the more perfect union'' that our Constitution promises. Significant racial disparities persist in our schools, as well as our economy and our criminal justice system.

Just last week, following a five-decade legal battle, a Federal district court judge ordered a school district in Mississippi to desegregate. In her opinion, Judge Debra Brown wrote that: ``[the school district's] delay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an integrated education. Although no court order can right these wrongs, it is the duty of the District to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.''

It is shocking to consider that, six decades after the Brown decision, there is still resistance to the Court's mandate to desegregate our schools.

We also continue to see efforts to make it more difficult for African Americans and other minorities to exercise the most fundamental constitutional right, the right to vote. Three years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at the Lincoln Memorial during a prayer pilgrimage to Washington.

In a speech entitled ``Give Us the Ballot,'' Dr. King described the, ``noble and sublime decision'' in Brown, as well as the massive resistance to enforcing the decision. Dr. King noted that: ``many states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the South ring loud with such words as `interposition' and `nullification.' But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent [African-Americans] from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition.''

Dr. King knew that there was a vital connection between desegregation and the right to vote. Without Federal voting protections, African Americans would not have a voice in government to ensure that the Supreme Court's decision in Brown was fully implemented. He went on to say, ``our most urgent request to the President of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote. . . . Give us the ballot.''

Eight years later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. For years, this landmark legislation was recognized as a great achievement. It was repeatedly reauthorized by large, bipartisan majorities in Congress. However, 3 years ago, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. In a divided 5-4 vote, the Court struck down the provision that required certain jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to preclear changes to their voting laws with the Department of Justice.

Since the decision, States like Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi have put in place restrictive state voting laws, which all too often have a disproportionate impact on lower-income and minority voters.

Sixty-two years after the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, it is clear there is much more work to do. We should remember Dr. King's words in 1957. We should restore the law he implored Congress to enact. It is time to bring the bipartisan Voting Rights Advancement Act to the floor and ensure that the Federal Government is once again able to fully protect the fundamental right to vote.

The Supreme Court of the United States stands just across the street from here. On the front of the Court four words are engraved: ``Equal Justice Under Law.'' Those words are a promise and a challenge to all of us. On this day, the anniversary of one of the Court's greatest triumphs, let us rededicate ourselves to ensuring that those four words--``Equal Justice Under Law''--ring true for this generation and future generations of Americans.

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