Sherrilyn Ifill: DeVos has a lot to learn about education and race
“This week marks the 63rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that outlawed racial segregation in our nation’s schools, fundamentally redefining the meaning of equality in American law. Although Brown is best remembered for sounding the death knell to Jim Crow in our country, the court’s decision should also be recognized for its powerful and equally groundbreaking articulation of the central role of public education in American democracy. Understanding how school segregation hurts all children, and how it lays the foundation for the kind of social and political fractures we see in our country today, may be the most important lesson Brown and its legacy can provide at this challenging moment in our nation. As President Trump and his secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, prepare to launch a set of initiatives that could fundamentally weaken and undermine public education, we would do well to reacquaint ourselves with the guidance offered by Brown.”