Today marks the 58th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. Brown’s unanimous decision struck down school segregation, holding that separate education facilities were inherently unequal. Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the court ruled unanimously that it was unconstitutional to force African American children to go to separate schools from their Caucasian peers. One of the first major victories in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th Century, Brown paved the way for the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, the Voting Rights Act, and many other milestones on the path to social justice and equal rights.
In the past six decades since the Brown decision, our nation has made significant progress in living up to the creed that all men and women are created equal. We still, however, have a long way to go before America is truly a land of equal justice and opportunity for all.
As we remember how far we have come, we must also commit ourselves to fully completing the goal Brown sought to achieve. Equal access has yet to realize itself into equal education and equal opportunity. African American children still experience lower graduation rates than the national average, and the African American community has been among the hardest hit by the economic recession. All children deserve a good education that prepares them for college, the workforce, and beyond. Let us use this anniversary as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to this effort and to the struggle for full equality.