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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of all time. It is part of our march toward justice.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, unanimously--unanimously--declaring the racist legal doctrine of ``separate but equal'' unconstitutional.

Today, we celebrate this historic anniversary and how far we have come as a country since the dark days of Jim Crow. Thankfully, we have made substantial progress in addressing racial disparities in education. However, significantly, systemic disparities do still exist today. More work needs to be done to promote racial equity and end discrimination inside and outside the classroom.

When the Supreme Court announced its decision in 1954, the demographics of American school-aged children were significantly different than they are today. At that time, the school-aged population, according to The Century Foundation, was roughly 85 percent White, 12 percent Black, and less than 4 percent other races. Contrast that with today. America's school-aged population is much more diverse: 48 percent White, 27 percent Hispanic, 15 percent Black, 6 percent Asian, 1 percent American-Indian, and 4 percent multiracial.

Yet, even with this increase--dramatic increase--in diversity, America's schools too often remain segregated by race. As of the 2018- 2019 school year, one in six public school students attended schools where more than 90 percent of their peers had the same racial background. Illinois has 3 of the country's top 11 most segregated urban school districts. This lack of racial diversity in our schools is caused in part by unfair, exclusionary zoning policies that keep low- income families out of schools in wealthier communities.

Education can play a significant role in helping to close the wealth gap between families, but unfortunately, due to modern-day segregation, many Black and Brown students often cannot access the same high-quality education as their White peers.

If you look at data from U.S. public schools going back to 1967, you will see that the segregation between Black and White students has increased by 64 percent since 1988 in the 100 largest school districts. While school segregation is not at pre-Brown v. Board of Education levels, it is still high and has been rising steadily since the late 1980s, and because where you go to school depends on your ZIP Code, students from poor neighborhoods in segregated cities are often trapped in underperforming schools.

Dismantling segregation has become more difficult now than it would have been 70 or 80 years ago, but we cannot ignore the challenge. Unless we focus on desegregating America and its neighborhoods, Brown's promise of integrated education will remain an unattainable goal.

The Brown decision was supposed to be the first step in a long march towards Americans' equality. It helped set the stage for challenges to other Jim Crow policies, such as barriers to fair housing, equal employment, voting rights, and public accommodations.

Unfortunately, today, the forces of intolerance are working to turn back the clock. Just last year, the Supreme Court struck down decades of precedent by ruling that affirmative action policies at two universities were unconstitutional. The attack on affirmative action threatens not just opportunities in education but also equal access to employment and contracts for minorities. The decision rewinds the clock and recreates barriers to entry for young minority students looking to pursue a degree in higher education and advance beyond college.

Quality education should be a right in our country, not a privilege. As a country, we still struggle to fulfill that promise. Public schools and many other elements of society remain separate and unequal, diminishing opportunities for millions.

Congress must focus on enacting policies and using resources to provide every student--Black, White, Brown--with the tools they need to learn and thrive in America. We must advocate for all students of every race and every place to have these resources to learn without limits.

As we celebrate 70 years since this historic decision, we honor the brave individuals who fought hard to bring it to reality. Those of us here today must honor their determination and sacrifice by continuing their mission for fairness.

On this 70th anniversary, I urge my colleagues to continue working toward equality within our education system and society. It is long overdue for us to repair the broken systems that no longer serve our children, our grandchildren, and our country.

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