Most black students now attending school systems around East Alabama and West Georgia, don’t have a clue that their schools are under a Federal Court Order.  But, they are.

The simplest explanation for why they don’t know is because several generations of students and parents have come and gone through the schoolhouse doors since the first federal court order was handed down.   Many schools are now returning to Federal Courts to apply for “Unitary Status.”  If this status is granted, it would literally remove all court supervision and the School System would be declared free of all vestiges of racial segregation.  I predict that very soon, parents and students in Roanoke and Randolph County may very well be asked to either agree or disagree with “Unitary Status.”   Some may even have to appear in Federal Court in Montgomery. 

The People’s Voice believes that school systems have a duty to see that parents and students fully understand what they are being asked to agree to before any action is taken. 

In this article, I will try to explain, exactly what the court order is all about, and why many school systems now want to petition the courts for “Unitary Status.”

How It All  Began

All students and parents, especially black ones, need to understand the far-reaching impact of racism as it was practiced before school desegregation. 

It is an inarguable fact that racial discrimination was prevalent all over the United States….IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE.   Blacks were considered second class citizens, and were treated that way in public hotels, restaurants, filling stations, businesses, and schools. 

Blacks could not go to a filling station and use the restroom as they do now.  They had to stop on the side of the road, and walk down into the woods and urinate or defecate on the ground — then clean themselves the best they could..   They could not even walk up to a drive-in window and order food as they do now.  They had to walk around back and have their food handed out to them in a greasy sack.   Forget about checking in to a hotel.  They either drove all night, or stopped on the side of the road and slept, and hoped they wouldn’t be harassed, tormented, ambushed or hanged by hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan which was notorious for lynching Negroes during the “Jim Crow” period. 

From 1856 up until 1954, roughly 97 years, race relations in the United States was dominated by segregation.   In the most hostile practice of racism, blacks and whites had to go to separate schools.  It was the law.  And for 97 years, the law had been the worst enemy to racial equality.

The black leaders who were fighting for racial equality at that time believed that the way to end second class treatment was to take their fight to the courts, and test it by suing for desegregation in public education.  They did this in a case called Brown Versus The Board of Education.   This lawsuit was filed on behalf of a student named Linda Brown, against the city of Topeka, Kansas.

Brown vs Board of Education ended in a victorious landmark decision on May 17, 1954, when the Supreme Court unanimously voted to outlaw racial segregation in government-run (Public) schools.   

Problems with Brown vs Board 

The problem was that “Brown” did not immediately solve the problems of separation of the races.  For the moment, all blacks had was a court decision.   In the minds of many whites who had believed in and practiced “White Supremacy” all their lives, confusion set in as to how to accomplish desegregation.  Now, all of a sudden, everybody was dumb and ignorant, and nobody could figure out how to do it.   

Civil Rights organizations such as the NAACP and others worked hard in communities all over the country, trying to promote the change, but full and complete desegregation did not come.    One has to understand that just because there was a court order on the books, that did not immediately change the minds of a white power structure who had been indoctrinated for generations that they were better than blacks.   

Long story short, because of the mass resistance to this new federal law, suits had to be filed all over the country in practically every state, where segregation had been declared legal.

In Alabama, the desegregation lawsuit was Lee vs Macon.   In Georgia the lawsuit was Geier vs Bredesen and  Hightower vs West LDF 

What Happened In Roanoke and Randolph County?

In the case of Randolph County, many of us recall the closing of our Alma Mater, The Randolph County Training School.  For sixteen years after the Brown decision, Randolph County had continued to operate racially segregated schools, until  “On March 22, 1967, the United States Federal District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued a court order and decree (Civil Action #604-E) ordering the Randolph County and Roanoke City School Boards to desegregate their public school systems….After the Court’s order, Earnest Stone, State Superintendent of Schools reluctantly informed the community of the need to comply with the order.   The Roanoke School system was informed that $65,000 to 75,000 in federal funds would be withheld, under the authority of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, if desegregation did not proceed immediately.   Desegregation evolved in a three-stage process in the city and county with students in lower grades at RCTS being permitted to enroll at the previously segregated schools where only White students could enroll.”

Three black individuals (all of whom are now deceased), Herman Shaw, Ida Shaw, and J. Tom Tucker were summoned to Washington D.C. to testify about the pace of desegregation in the city and county.  White school officials were disappointed with their testimony as they noted that the pace of desegregation remained problematic.”  

(Thornton, Thornton, Thornton, and Thornton: Behind These Silent Walls, page 56).

Similar events occurred in many other communities all over the country.

More Problems After Implementation

Finally, all the black schools were closed at the end of school year 1969-1970.  This forced all black students to have to attend previously segregated white schools.  

Despite the 1954 Brown Decision and Lee vs. Macon court orders, many school systems continued (even to this very day) to have problems that could only be solved by returning to Federal Court under Lee vs Macon.

Despite claims of being “law-abiding citizens,” public officials and school personnel frequently found it difficult to comply with the “De-Seg Orders.”

Down through the years, these are some of the problems that have been observed:

1. Uneven/unfair discipline between black and white students

2. Failure to hire a representative number of black teaching staff

3. Failure to recruit qualified black teachers

3. Failure to promote blacks to administrative or coaching positions

4. Denial of student participation in certain “exclusive” clubs, or organizations, and/or

    extracurricular activities

5. Tolerance of use of racial epithets

7. Failure to incorporate or take into consideration the needs for cultural diversity in the

    school curriculum; or failure to make allowances for cultural diversity.

6. Failure to recognize or incorporate black history in the curriculum or school program.

7. Overrepresentation of black students in special education programs

And the list could go on and on.

The continual cropping up of race-based disagreements in public education is what has necessitated the continuation of Court-Ordered School Supervision.

What Is Unitary Status?

School systems under court orders ideally are working to achieve “Unitary Status.”  This means that they are working to eliminate all forms of racial segregation.   When they have done this, then the court order can be lifted.   According to the National School Board Association, “Unitary” is a term courts use to describe a school system that has made the transition from a segregated or “racially dual” system to a desegregated or “unitary” system.”    Until 1991, many school systems didn’t even understand what “Unitary” meant.   So, in 1991, a school system in Oklahoma went to Federal Court to have the term “Unitary” clarified.    In this case, The Supreme Court has held that a declaration of unitary status is only appropriate after a hearing at which the defendant school district bears the burden of proving that it has:

(1)   complied with the desegregation order for a reasonable period of time;

(2)   eliminated all vestiges of past discrimination to the extent practicable; and

(3)   demonstrated its good faith commitment to the constitutional rights that were the predicate for judicial intervention.

Summary

In summary, I would implore black citizens and parents to consider the following:

In your opinion, has the school system your child attends complied with the desegregation order for a “reasonable” period of time. 

Question:  What is considered “reasonable?”  

Question:  Have you read the “De-Seg Order”  Are you familiar with the actions the school is required to take under the court order?

Suggestion:  I suggest you familiarize yourself with it.

In your experience, has the school system your child attends ELIMINATED all vestiges of past discrimination to the extent practicable? 

Question:  What is your understanding of “vestiges” of discrimination.

Question:  Are you aware that “vestiges” of discrimination transcends people of different races merely being together?   Are you aware that these “vestiges” might involve hostilities, and feelings, or climate, language used, intolerance, and many other kinds of intangible attributes than make students or teachers feel uncomfortable in that environment?

In your experience, has the school system your child attends shown good faith to commit to the constitutional rights that (existed all along) that compelled the court to intervene in the first place?

As a long time educator, community activist, and advocate for civil rights, I implore every black parent to consider carefully, each one of these questions, and in the event you are ever asked to agree or disagree with a school’s application for Unitary Status, be as sure as sure can be, in your position. 

It took our ancestors 100 years OR MORE actively fighting in the courts of this nation, to work the case of desegregation in public education down to the point where little black children in Roanoke and Randolph County, Alabama could enjoy the right to a free and appropriate public education.   

The People’s Voice is always open for your comments or questions regarding this issue.