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Dear DSC Members and Allies,
May 17th marked the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Many DSC members participated in actions, community discussions and panels throughout the week to commemorate the anniversary and highlight the ongoing fight for racial justice in our schools and communities. You can visit DSC’s Facebook page for links to some of our members’ events. Send updates about your local campaigns to nancy@dignityinschools.org to include in next month’s e-newsletter!
DSC Video Chat on 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board
Last Thursday, a small group of DSC members from California, Mississippi, Ohio and Washington, DC participated in an on-line Google Hangout discussion to reflect on the impacts of Brown v. Board of Education sixty years later. Professor Vernellia Randall from Racial Justice Now shared her experiences attending public schools at the time of Brown v. Board and discussed the continued segregation and lack of quality education in public schools today. She was joined by Jasmine Jones and Misha Cornelius from Black Organizing Project and Joyce Parker from Citizens for a Better Greenville who discussed the ongoing discrimination and inequity in our school system, including the closing of neighborhood schools, the loss of teachers of color, the low expectations and placement of students of color into lower academic tracks, and the inequitable funding and lack of supports in schools.
The discussion, moderated by Rebecca Arnold from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, also spurred ideas for where we need to go from here, including promoting more recognition of human rights in our work, exploring introduction of a national Human Rights Act, integrating more diverse curriculum into schools and confronting implicit and explicit bias. Members also called on DSC to use this year to continue to reflect on the Anniversary of Brown v. Board in our work to end school pushout.
You can watch the Video Chat on our DSC Youtube channel and view a DSC powerpoint presentation on Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline through Human Rights here.
Save the Kids Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth
In light of the anniversary, DSC member organization Save the Kids will be holding a National Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth from May 19-25! DSC members from Chicago, IL to Greenville, MS will be holding local events. You can find information about events here and check out the fan page here.
May 22nd White House Twitter Chat on Brown v. Board
DSC will also be official participants in a Brown v. Board twitter chat hosted by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans on May 22 at 12pm EST. The topic will be about the next generation of civil rights leaders as we reflect on the 60th anniversary of the Brown v Board decision. The initiative is convening youth and young adult activists who have been active in efforts to advance equity in education. You can follow the initiative on Twitter here.
In the News
This Week in ‘Nation’ History: The Broken Promise of ‘Brown v. Board of Ed.,’ Sixty Years Later
Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation, 5/14/2014
“The Climax of an Era”—so declared The Nation’s headline marking the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, handed down sixty years ago this Saturday. For the few progressives left in those dark times, the Warren Court’s unanimous decision declaring “separate but equal” public facilities unconstitutional was “a fine antidote to the blight of McCarthyism and kindred fevers,” observed Carey McWilliams, soon to become The Nation’s editor.
Still Separate and Unequal
Jamelle Bouie, Slate, 5/15/2014
aturday is the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case where a unanimous Supreme Court held that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The following year the justices ordered that states end school segregation with “all deliberate speed.” In the popular narrative, this is the beginning of American integration, a process that goes from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King to the Civil Rights Act and eventually to President Obama.
CPS 'Still Separate, Still Unequal,' Protesters Say on 'Brown' Anniversary
Tanveer Ali, DNAinfo Chicago, 5/17/2014
Dozens of protesters came out Saturday on the 60th anniversary of the famed Brown v. Board of Education ruling, charging that Chicago Public Schools are "still separate, still unequal." In front of shuttered Pope Elementary School, one of about 50 schools the district board voted to close in May of 2013, members of the Chicago Teachers Union and community groups representing the South and West Sides came out spoke against handing over public school buildings to private operators, and school closings in general.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Save the Kids Week of Action Against Incarcerating Youth
May 19-25
DSC member Save the Kids has organized a National Week of Action against Incarcerating Youth. The Week of Action will highlight a different theme each day. For more information and to download
the flier click here.
DSC Model Code Implementation Webinar
May 28, 4:00pm EST
The Dignity in Schools Campaign will be hosting a webinar on how to implement DSC's Model Code on Education and Dignity in local advocacy work to reform overly punitive school discipline policies. You can register here.
Civil Rights Collection Data Webinar
June 9, 4:00pm EST
The Dignity in Schools Campaign and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Inc. will be hosting a webinar on how to use the most recent Civil Rights Collection Data (CRDC) in local advocacy work to reform overly punitive school discipline policies. Presenters will include Dan Losen of the Center for Civil Rights and Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and David Osher of the American Institutes for Research. You can register here.
Supportive School Discipline Webinar
June 11, 3:30-5:00pm EST
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is hosting a Webinar on Safe and Supportive School Discipline. The webinar will cover the Guidance Package: Compendium of School Discipline Laws and Regulations.
The webinar will increase awareness and understanding of the issues around school discipline and provide practical examples of policies and practices that maintain school and classroom safety while ensuring academic engagement and success for all students. Register here.
About the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)
The Dignity in Schools Campaign is a national coalition of youth, parents, advocates, community-based organizations, educators and policymakers working together to seek human rights-based solutions to the systemic problem of pushout in U.S. schools.
Visit us at www.dignityinschools.org to learn more.
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