Time Wise Brown v. Board of Education

It is sad to think that a mere 50-something years ago segregation existed in the school system. The website was interesting and it put into perspective the work that was put in to do away with constitution sanctioned segregation. I was unaware that it took lawyers 20 plus years to bring the matter to the supreme court. It must have been some people's life's work to bring about this historical change. It is also sad to think that, since Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights movement in the sixties, that we still haven't achieved racial equality. It seems that as a society we could have moved passed this roadblock and achieved much more together.

The Tim Wise videos were good and I found a few things he said to be very important and relevant to what we are doing in class. In response to some people saying that Obama's presidency is proof of racial equality he made a comment about Obama's education and the standards he was held to as opposed to a white candidate. He said,"Proof of racial equality will be the day that people of color can be as mediocre as white people and still get hired." I remember during the election they would always mention that Obama was a Harvard grad but never mentioned what school McCain attended. In fact I have no idea what school Bush Jr. or Clinton attended either.

Another thing that Wise said in the interview reminded me of Johnson. In the interview they kept talking about "denial" of the problem. It reminded me of Johnson's warning to recognize the trouble we're in. The first step is to recognize and acknowledge that there is a problem. Wise said,"If you want to know if a problem is still a problem, it makes sense to ask the people who are targeted by the problem." How are we to know unless we care enough to ask. I guess it is easy not to see what you don't want to.