Talking Points #7: Separate is not Equal

Free Response

I believe that what Tim wise and Bob Herbert both had to say about racial integration are very similar to the issues that the United states had faced at the time of Brown v. Board of Education. Tim Wise made an valid accusation that we do not have a "truly equal opportunity society", and that black people have to be truly exceptional in order to receive the same acknowledgment and power as mediocre white people do. This was true in the past when only extraordinarily intelligent African americans became lawyers and doctors and other high class positions, and is also true now during the time of Obama's presidency. Tim Wise makes a good point when he speaks about many different white politicians who have extremely bad track records who are where they're at, and that you don't see black people with similar records in the same positions. I agree with him when he says that white people were in denial in the 1950's when they were asked if they thought black student's received the same educational opportunities as white students, and that they still are today. Bob Herbert raises the issue of racial integration in schools and explains that because of "...residential patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities, and long-held custom", schools are still segregated in the United States today. Schools are still segregated much like they were in the past, which gives very little meaning to the ruling of the Brown v. Board of Education case. Low-income students who live in areas of poverty, many of whom are black or latino, all get sent to one school. Middle and high class students, who are mostly white, get sent to other schools in their own areas. Herbert explains that intelligence not about the race of the students, but the environment in which they are learning. If schools are still segregated among the country, they are definitely not equal.