Strength in Diversity Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my amendment to the Strength in Diversity Act, which requires grantees to report on their progress in reducing racial and socioeconomic segregation in our schools.

In the year 2020, our schools are still separate and unequal. My home district has some of the most racially segregated schools in the country, and this is no coincidence. This was by design.

Forty-five years ago, rich White suburbs around my district decided they didn't want to bus their children to desegregate schools, and the highest court in our land agreed with them. The Supreme Court case of Milliken v. Bradley made racial integration of schools nearly impossible, and we are still seeing the negative impact of that decision today.

We see it in our Detroit Public Schools, where students had to sue the State of Michigan for the right to literacy. We see it in the lead that poisons our school drinking fountains throughout my district. We see it in having just $7,000 per pupil while the neighboring the Grosse Pointe community, a largely White, affluent suburb, has nearly $14,000 per pupil.

I want to thank Representative Fudge for her tireless efforts in leading this legislation, which is a critically important step toward racial desegregation of our schools.

I also want to thank Chairman Scott and his incredible staff for working with me on this amendment and for their leadership.

I urge strong support for this amendment and for this bill.

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