Publication Date
3-2005
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The genesis of this Article was originally conceived as a letter to a journalist in response to an article I had read in the Detroit News titled, "Judge Damon Keith, governor hosts fund raiser on Saturday." I also heard about this event while listening to National Public Radio that same day, and I planned on attending because Judge Keith is a great man and a great civil rights champion. I have always wanted to meet this Titan in person, however, after further reflection, I decided not to attend this event on principle. The occasion was in part a fundraiser for his legal history collection and in part a celebration of the famous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that mandated that Black children and White children attend public schools together. In this Article, which memorializes the fiftieth anniversary of the Brown opinion, I take a bold and contrarian's position. The position categorically holds to the supposition that while the Brown opinion did some "symbolic" good in starting America on the road to removing "separate but equal" public facilities segregated by race, because the Court in Brown relied on sophistic political, sociological, and psychological considerations rather than on sound constitutional, legal, and moral grounds, the fallout from Brown did infinitely more to harm the "educational opportunities" of Black people than it did to help them-deconstructing quality educational access for Black children for generations-even until this day.
Recommended Citation
Washington, Ellis
(2005)
"Brown v. Board of Education: Right Result, Wrong Reasoning,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 56:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol56/iss2/6