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Moving Equity: 70 Years Post Brown vs. Board | Panel Discussion

Image captures a mother and daughter sitting on the step of the US Supreme Court. The two look deeply in each others eyes, as the mother holds a newspaper in her hands. The newspaper headline reads, "High Court Bans Segregation In Public Schools". Behind the mother and daughter, one can see the columns of the Supreme Court.

Brown vs. Board of Education–the pivotal Supreme Court decision that declared school segregation within the United States unconstitutional–turns 70 years old today (May 17th, 2024). At the time of SCOTUS’ 1954 ruling in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, seventeen (17) states across the country had laws on the books requiring schools and other public facilities to be racially segregated. The high court’s decision in Brown vs. Board purported that segregation in the nation’s public schools was “inherently unequal.”

Image captures a student protesting for an end to segregation in NYC schools. This high school student holds a protest sign in front of her which reads, NYC has the most segregated school system in America. We need equity and integration. The student is wearing a green coat and white scarf.

This afternoon’s panel, “Moving Equity: 70 Years Post Brown vs. Board” interrogates this contemporary moment which finds many of America’s schools to still be largely segregated. Why has there been so much resistance to the Brown decision? Why does school segregation persist 70 years after this landmark Supreme Court decision? What are the steps that students, educators, parents/caregivers, and activists can take to bring about desegregated schools? What does it mean to fight for equity on behalf of our Black, Indigenous, and Latinx children, students with disabilities and multilingual learners who still have not received equality in their education experiences? How do we fulfill the hope of Brown vs. Board?

To answer these questions and lead our final discussion of the day, we have gathered a stellar panel of social justice leaders and equity advocates:

Equity Now Conference Panel Conversation

Panel Participants

  • Dr. Khalil G. Muhammad, Director of the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School | Moderator
  • Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago & Author | Panelist
  • Chancellor Lester Young, Chancellor of New York State Board of Regents | Panelist
  • Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, Co-Executive Director of the New York State Alliance for Quality Education (ACE) | Panelist 
  • Natasha Capers, NYC Coalition of Education Justice (NYCEJ) | Panelist
  • Bryson Rose, Adult Coach at IntegrateNYC | Panelist 

 

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