Title
To Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. The Board of Education.
Body
WHEREAS, the educational system in the United States historically mandated separate schools for children based solely on race; and
WHEREAS, numerous school integration cases were filed in United States courts, by African Americans who challenged the legality of separate facilities for African Americans, as early as 1849, in the case of Roberts v. City of Boston; and
WHEREAS, in 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the United State Supreme Court declared separate accommodations based on race constitutional and the Supreme Court's decision created the foundation for the "separate but equal" facilities doctrine that maintained segregated schools in the United States until 1954; and
WHEREAS, African American community leaders, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other organizations became involved in a nationwide effort to establish equal educational opportunity to obtain full constitutional rights for African Americans; and
WHEREAS, five public school desegregation cases from Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kansas, South Carolina and Virginia were combined and became known as Oliver L. Brown, et al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, et al.; and
WHEREAS, on May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court rendered a unanimous landmark decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, deciding that the doctrine of "separate but equal" had no place in the field of public education and separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and laws requiring or permitting racial segregation of schools violated equal protection; and
WHEREAS, the Brown v. Board of Education case initiated educational and social reform, shaped human rights policies, expanded civil rights and reaffirmed that all United States citizens were entitled to the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution; and
WHEREAS, May 17, 2004 constitutes the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education United States Supreme Court decision; and
WHEREAS, disparities and inequalities in the educational experiences of children of African descent still exist in the field of education; and
WHEREAS, in the words of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren in 1954, "public education is a right which must be made available to all in equal terms;" and
WHEREAS, clear statistical evidence exists of the great differences in the economic, social and family backgrounds and educational opportunities of minority and majority race children, and of the relationship of these disparities to student achievement; and
WHEREAS, the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education on May 17, 2004 offers an opportunity for a recommitment to the worthy goal of equal educational opportunity for every student - a goal that has yet to be achieved; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That this Council joins with the Columbus Board of Education, Twin Rivers Chapter of the Links, Inc., the NAACP and all other concerned organizations in support of efforts to provide the constitutional right for every student of every race, color or creed to receive an equal education.