Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

An ominous decision

According to projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, whites will be in the minority of the nation’s population in 2056. As recently as 2000, whites accounted for 72 percent of the population. Now white Americans have only 50 years to resolve the country’s race problem before the emergence of a significant political shift.

Fifty years is an eternity from the perspective of teenagers, but to senior citizens, 50 years is just the wink of an eye. Far-sighted social planners and creative educators have devised plans to establish racial diversity in public elementary and secondary schools. There is substantial evidence to conclude that when young children are exposed to a multiracial environment, they will be better prepared to be citizens of a racially diverse society.

However, there are constitutional restrictions on social engineering to create racial balance in public schools. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision concluded that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court had the authority in that case to intervene only when the separation was sanctioned by law.

Therefore, race cannot be used as a criterion for assignment plans in public schools unless very strict constitutional standards are followed. While this creates a problem for school districts that try to create multiracial schools, the standards are necessary. Without them it would be too easy for the bigots to once again create white-only public schools.

White conservatives argue that race cannot be used as a criterion at all. If this were so, school districts could be carefully fashioned to enclose white neighborhoods. We would soon return to overwhelmingly white school districts, but this time they would be constitutionally protected.

In fact, resegregation is happening to a great extent as the black and Latino populations of major cities increase. There has also been a dramatic resegregation in the South. In 1960, 99.9 percent of black students were in majority black or all black schools. This was true of only 56.5 percent of black students by 1988. But in ten years that number rose to 65.3 percent and is still climbing.

The city of Lynn established a school assignment plan designed to enhance diversity. Parents can choose a school inside or outside of their neighborhood district, provided that their choice will not lead to greater racial concentration. Disgruntled white parents lost a federal lawsuit to overturn the plan.

The federal district court concluded that racial diversity is a “compelling state interest” as American society becomes increasingly multicultural. The goals of “preparing students to be citizens in a multicultural society and eliminating the concrete harmful consequences that de facto segregation inflicts on a public school system” were held to be sufficiently significant. The court also found that the Lynn plan was “narrowly tailored” because all of the schools were of relatively equal quality and no student was denied access.

Upon appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the Lynn decision. Now there is considerable concern because the Supreme Court agreed last week to review school assignment cases from Seattle, Wash. and Louisville, Ky. In both cases, the plans have won the support of lower courts. Reports indicate that both assignment plans are very similar to the Lynn model.

Perhaps conservatives believe that they can tighten the rules now that Sandra Day O’Connor has been replaced by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Tighter rules would make it almost impossible to consider race as a factor in establishing public school assignment plans. With race relations still so contentious in the United States, it would be unwise for the Court to eliminate an important bridge to multiracial understanding. The Court’s decision will greatly influence what kind of society we have in America 50 years from now.