Racial segregation in America ended decades ago, yet the struggle against inequality continues. Making segregation unlawful was the easy part, the true test in ending the horrible conditions of racial hatred and intolerance lies within our ability to change the hearts and minds of those who benefit from it.
Many of the world’s most beloved leaders believed one way to achieve this was to educate children of different backgrounds within the same classrooms. On the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education this month, let’s take a look at how little progress the United States has made toward integrating public schools.
New York
New York City is known for its historically Black neighborhoods. It has the largest public school system in the nation, and one of the most segregated. Ninety percent of Black and Latino students who attend public schools in New York City are doing so without white classmates.
Fifty-one percent of public school students in the state of New York are white, yet the average Black student attends a city school where just 17.7 percent of its students are white. The Supreme Court struck down the law of segregation six decades ago when it was thought to be a problem in the South, but today, not a single Southern state has a school that comes close to being as segregated as New York’s.
