Last week this country celebrated the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. While the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against segregation in public schools is certainly a landmark, there’s a truth about the decision that we don’t ever really talk about. That truth begins with the little-known 1955 case of Brown v. Board of Education, Part II.
For Board I, the Court was far more interested in appearing to fight racism than actually fighting racism. So, instead of ordering states to enforce the new rights for Black folks, it told the Brown lawyers to come back the following year to discuss next steps. Then, when they returned in 1955 for Board II, the Court entertained more arguments for and against segregation, finally declaring that states had to desegregate their public schools “with all deliberate speed”.
Sounds pretty great, right?
Well, while that phrasing may sound like an immediate and/or good thing, it was, in fact, the opposite of both. Historically, it turns out “with all deliberate speed” meant, “whenever you get around to it”. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes first used the phrase in the 1912 case Virginia v. West Virginia to explain that, when it comes to change, a state is expected to move very slowly. But, even that would be a generous interpretation of Board II, because as Thurgood Marshall said at the time, “The don’t mean go slow. They mean don’t go.”
After Board II, not only did they not go, but it became clear that powerful bigots across the country had already been organizing in opposition to desegregation. They wrote something called The Declaration of Constitutional Principles, or the “Southern Manifesto,” as it came to be known. The Manifesto argued that, "This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding."
I don’t know how familiar you are with Jim Crow laws, but they were neither designed by “good people of both races,” nor intended to preserve “friendship and understanding”. Nevertheless, powerful racists continued to relentlessly oppose desegregation, creating white-only “segregation academies” and writing laws defunding desegregated schools.
These powerful racists eventually hid their continued segregation under the cover of religion, creating the “Religious Right” and soon, even safeguarding the culture of racism wouldn’t be enough. In the late 1970s, to reach across that North/South political divide, they chose a new enemy, setting their sights on a forgotten Supreme Court case from a few years earlier: Roe v. Wade, which I’ve written more about here.
My father lived through the Civil Rights era and would often explain that the racist who tried to kill me yesterday is legally bound to let me into his restaurant today and I should trust him to prepare my meals only if I have no desire to see tomorrow. It would be nice if white supremacy could be defeated with a gesture, but it can’t.
Brown v. Board of Education was promoted as a victory by some at the time to keep from doing the necessary work to make it a reality. Since then, this country’s collective ignorance of Board II and the Southern Manifesto has not only allowed for the undoing of the original cause (school segregation is getting worse), but also the establishment and ascension of a political and moral fascism that has been successfully removing our rights ever since.
The story of Board I is truly incredible. It required incredibly dangerous work combined with unfathomable forethought and strategy and it should be celebrated as such. But it should also invoke a devastating shame that those in charge of this country would rather see it dismantled by bigots than hold true to their own word.
Anyway, here’s my favorite SNL sketch.