Herbert: Regressing on Integration

[salin]

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And in Washington, on Monday, May 17, 1954, a warm and muggy spring day in the nation's capital, history was being made.

"We conclude, unanimously," said Chief Justice Earl Warren, reading from the court's decision in the case of Oliver Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, "that in the field of public education the doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

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But there's a catch. The irony of Brown is that over the course of half a century such a profound and far-reaching decision should have fallen so far short of its specific objective: the integration of the public schools.

The legal barrier to desegregation was removed, and over several tension-filled years many schools were integrated. But the trend now is in the other direction.

When it comes to schools, "we honor Brown more in principle than in practice," said Ted Shaw, who will soon take over as head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which led the Brown v. Board fight. "We live in an era now where school desegregation is all but done. We're resegregating. And no one really seems to care."

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/26/opinion/26HERB.html?th