Critics see silver lining, gloom in high court's racial ruling

It'll be interesting to see how black Republican members of Congrees react to this ruling.

07 Discrimination Scorecard:

Republican Party - 1

Minorities - 0

This further demonstrates that Republican stacking the courts was not out of a desire to eliminate judicial activism, but to impose the "right" judicial activism.

Reid quote "Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, it has been settled law that the Constitution requires racially mixed schools." Actually the law stated that you cannot discriminate, not that you must integrate. By forcing integration some schools, you are discriminating against other (e.g. quotas). After seeing busing first hand in NC, I realize forced integration is not the solution.

They basically overturned Brown v. Board of Education, bringing us back to Plessy v. Ferguson.

And this also reveals that Chief Justice Roberts lied to Congress when he discussed his views on stare decisis.

Government imposed Racial discrimination is bad and unconstitutional--Supreme Court, Republicans, and Martin Luther King.

Government imposed Racial discrimination is good and constitutional--Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and liberals in general.

correct me if I am wrong, but it would appear that the majority has decided that the only remedy for discrimination is to tell those who discriminate to "not discriminate". The court has closed off ALL enforcement options.

It is a disservice to minorities to assert that just because they are minorities they cannot compete on an even plane with non-minorities. Individuals can and should aspire to a level playing field, regardless of color or ethnicity. For example, Asian-Americans are a minority population but there is no evidence that they need discriminatory treatment in getting into any college or school. In general, they do exceedingly well in education at any level. Dedication to education, extraordinary effort and perseverance can work wonders. Minority students of every race prove it every day. Just check the libraries.

I just finished reading Jonathan Kozol's book about the resegregation of schools in america & I think it is something those 5 justices would have done well to avail themselves of.

In no way to I profess to be a legal or moral scholar, but I was hoping that reading the majority opinion would leave me with at least some sense that those 5 justices had a deeper understanding of the issue; the way Kozol's years of experience in some of the worst (and most segregated) schools in the country has given him one.

"the best way to end racial segregation is to end racial segregation" Shame on them for taking that easy, overly simplistic way out.

Is it 2008 yet?

Nieghborhood schools are just that. Maybe a little more time fixing the Nieghborhood and we wouldnt have to send kids miles away into differnt nieghborhoods. Its not discrimination.When your child lives across the street from a school but has to be bused to another school to achieve racial balance that is wrong.

The court decision was 185 pages. Both Sen. Reid and Sen. Clinton have been busy on the senate floor this morning and can't possibly have read the decision, let alone understood it. Yet, as reported above, they issue press releases denouncing what they haven't read.

This says a lot about the intellectual level of the senate.

How long before the Breck Girl uses this in an email campaign to get more money from libs ?

This decision is a product of the narrow life experience of the Chief Justice. Borne to plenty, schooled in an elite private parochial high school, educated at Harvard and Harvard Law School and then travelling in right wing Republican circles all his professional career, the issues of race and segregation are abstract to him. When things are abstract, it's very easy to be an "absolutist."

The true RACISTS: Kooky, Loony, Uneducated Leftist White People.

I disagree. To me "the best way to end racial segregation is to end racial segregation" speaks volumes in its simplicity. I think schools in general and in practice have over relied on the quota concepts in order to show diversity; to market and sell how inclusive they are when there not. Usually the diversity, inclusion, and tolerance rhetorics stop or waiver once one gets past the doorstep of an institution. Schools are run more like a business than do a real good job of educating our young people. Sometimes minorities will chose to opt out of applying to schools based on race, and would rather avoid the stigma that they got in only bc of it when they are as bright as anyone else; though in some instances less fortunate to put them in a position with access to the tools they need to succeed in life. I do think that in conjunction with such rulings schools, state, and local gov. have to now stop relying on just meeting a certain quota as evidence of racial inclusion. They have to start addressing the underlying problems that contribute to educational disparities, including access to good schools, good teachers, etc. The federal gov. should help out too bc it is hard to put the cat back in the bag once you let it out, so to that extent but more efficiently. Only then will we be at a point were racial discrimination and disparity can be done away with in terms of education.

The decision doesn't say that a district can not move the better teachers around...education is better spent in classrooms than in school busses.

I have found that affirmative action can just as easily work against those it is designed to help.

We are a white family living in the predominantly black Little Rock school district. In an effort to balance race within the district, administration has adopted a policy that allows minority (white in this case) students to gain entrance into schools of their choice, if they are in majority (black in this case) race areas. The unintended result is that a student of the majority race (again, black in this case) isn't afforded the opportunity to get out of a bad school zone and into a better school.

Because we are white, we were moved to the top of the waiting list. Before you jump to hasty conclusions, both the superintendent and the school board majority are black.

In seeking to solve one problem, you create another.

People, don't listen to Bruce. If that nut thought people wouldn't notice he would vote the KKK into the White House in 08....wait a minute, they already are in the White House...nevermind.

Bruce,
Do you know how quickly it would take a staff of just 5-10 people to get thru 185 pages if they divide up the work?

Public schools are liberal cesspools anyway.
Homeschooling is the much better option.

www.ReyFloresAmerica.blogspot.com

HeyRey,

Making the rounds, what about once a week or so?

Nothing to see here, mosely on down the line.

Hey Rey, I guess that explains your uneducated politics, you were homeschooled by dead-ender RNC robots.

Brucie,

Since you never read the posts you comment on (why bother to grasp the message if you always merely attack the messenger?), why are you complaining about the 185 p. ruling and whether it was studied in detail or not?

Bruce,
Do you know how quickly it would take a staff of just 5-10 people to get thru 185 pages if they divide up the work?

Posted by: jethro

Why of course, I get a bunch of friends together, we each read a chapter of a book and can easily explain it to everyone. That works so well.

Since you never read the posts you comment on (why bother to grasp the message if you always merely attack the messenger?), why are you complaining about the 185 p. ruling and whether it was studied in detail or not?

Posted by: Kenny Bunkport

I would think one might want to read the opinion before criticizing it. Of course if a candidate is only interested in a sound bite in a press conference to use in a campaign ad, then the details (or facts) do not matter.

Report from the Gridiron: the score stands Whites 99, Blacks 0, but it turns out that the Whites spent the first three quarters cheating. The refs have just decided to correct the situation. Cheating will no longer be allowed. On with the game!

"Maybe a little more time fixing the Nieghborhood and we wouldnt have to send kids miles away into differnt nieghborhoods."

Did you maybe go to a neighborhood school?

As a member of National Education Association, I feel partly to blame. We all ASSUMED there was no way our leadership would turn the hands of time back 60 years to allow segregation. I see this very clearly. This opens the door to have all the "strong" students testing in the same schools, and the "weak" students testing at a different one. This means we can truly point the finger at who is ABLE to learn and who isnt. This will split not only the races, but it will split children, teachers, families, and those who thought they were friends. Are we looking for someone to blame for our NCLB foolishness? Are we looking for a reason to not educate (to the fullest) latino/ hispanic students? What are we doing? This leaves me empty. This goes against every reason I became a teacher. What have we done?

Andy,

Thanks for taking the time to reinforce my message for Brucie and his media kvetchfest.

The Supreme Court under the able leadership of John Roberts has said stop quotas. This is good for all --43 years after the Civil Rights law which was passed by the GOP --Al Gores' father and Clinton's mentor William Fullbright voted no. Wakeup Democrats times have changed people have changed America wants education for all no special exceptions-- this is not Rocket Science --hello liberal Dems how long can you keep this charade--equal opportunity for all God's children. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Silver lining indeed;
More like a turd, wrapped in old tp, immersed in urine, and flushed down the crapper.

Frank James;
To paraphrase Lee Elia(Cubs manager (C. 1983/84)
'Now take that downtown and print it!!'

Lewis allen, Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Alternative Caption Contest;

'Something smells like, like, oh my god!!!'

Greg Ross,

Yet the hands will be turned back for the next 20 years or so. That's how long it will take to fix the Supreme Court.

Americans, asleep at the wheel of history, had no clue they were voting for this kind of social regression since 1980. They actually thought and continue to think, it doesn't matter who is running the country.

On one level I agree. The Court's job is not to create law but to interpret law.
But there are two huge problems with this:
1. This (clearly activist) court, members of which said they would not seek to overturn prescedent, have in effect done just that. Lord knows what's next.
2. Maybe it wasn't a perfect idea, but it was the best thing to guarantee equal rights. I do fear that this throws us backward. Let us hope that our national maturity will prevent that. Maybe the way we respond to this will show that we've learned something.

I hope some of these activist judges will retire soon. But W(orst president ever) picked some young ones.
We will rue this administration for decades.

Always good to see that John D. toots his flat horn by name calling.

It is about time sanity and common sense come to the Supreme Court. For too long, minorities counted on handouts and liberal whites to rescue failing schools in ghettos. If you want better schools, stop worshipping hip hop artists, baggy jeans, bilingual education and Ebonics. Make your own schools better and stop complaining.

Why don't people who are against this send their kids to Martin Luther King school in Chicago. Then their kids will be more 'diverse' right. Or else move into the inner-City and then you can also be more 'diverse'which is a marvelous thing, right? Or would you prefer if the government forces you to live there? Of course the looney left likes to live as far away from these neighborhoods as they can and that's why these neighborhoods tend to be 100% black.

Have you seen the photo of the current US Supreme Court Justices in their official robes? I swear the temp in my house dropped when it came on TV. It's chilling. One more gift that Bush gave the US that will keep on giving and giving.

When people completely lose faith in the courts, escpecially the Supreme Court, we are just a sharp blow or a strong demagogue away from (more or less) organized armed insurrection, and not just your summertime, heat-induced micro-riots in the cities. We're almost retired now and we've bought a patch of land outside Toronto. We will watch it unfold from the other side of the border.

There is a HUGE misunderstanding and a confusion of concepts. There are 2 different beliefs/policies at issue:

(1) The government (be it the Feds or the local schools) can NOT base its treatment of someone on their race. Brown v Board said the gov't could not assign a child to School A because they are of one race and child to School B because they are of another race. Both children had to be provided the gov't service (there education) without regard to their race and the service had to be of the same level and quality. Period. That is a legal concept of equal protection.

The school desegregation cases were about dismantling and undoing the effects of the institutionalized racial discrimination by the SCHOOL SYSTEM. The misconduct at issue was not the general behavior and beliefs of society 90, 130 or more years ago but the behavior of the SCHOOLS.

(2) Then there is the social engineering belief that diversity is good and people of different races should be forced to associate. This is NOT a legal concept. It is a psychological/sociology concept attempting to alter the behavior of individuals through social engineering.

The problem for the social engineers is that people have a habit of congregating with those who are like themselves - cultural heritage, financial status, religion, educational level and, yes, race if they can but only to the extent that they are still with their educational and financial peers as the racial identity is closely related to the cultural traditions and social eperiences. The most important factors for the manner in which people group themselves are educational and financial and cultural background.

Someone with a PHD and an income in the top 20% who travels widely abroad is most likely not going to live in 63rd and Cottage Grove (lower income black neighborhood) or Humbodlt Park (lower income white neighborhood).

The upper middle class product of private schools and elite universities who is in high paying profession is not going to move next door to neighbors who barely finished high school and spend their time repairing their car in their driveway even if they are of the same race.

These types of decisions are made by individuals - NOT by the government or even encouraged by government policies. These individual decisions do result in groups clustering together by social, economic, and educational levels and by cultural background and experiences.

The social engineering goal is to make the public services such as schools be 'diverse' in their enrollment and break up the PRIVATE decisions to cluster in patterns that the social engineers do not find acceptable.

If the SE's could, they would happily dictate who could live where in order to achieve what they consider a 'diverse' neighborhood with a formula of so many from each of all 5 quintiles of income, so many of different levels of education, so many from different levels of employment, so many of the various age groups and so many of the different races. This however would never be acceptable and is illegal to even try.

The social engineers (SE) want to take so many of each group and mix them in the schools. The SE's have based nearly all their efforts on achieving what they percieve as the correct racial mix as they associate socioeconomic status with race. This means selecting students based upon their race - select 1 from Column A, 5 from Column B and 11 from Column C.

It is this selection of students based upon their RACE that the S. CT. said was not allowed - no matter how benign or worthy the SE's goal.

It's amazing that when most Blacks, and people who objectively look at the problems in this country, are right about the effects of laws, government actions and inactions, and the status of people and institutions, America looks the other way.
We predicted the war intentions and results. We tried to warn America about healthcare, schools, minimum wage, worker rights, the dishonesty of "faith-based" and the people that sell it, worker rights, the Mid-East and the lack of forthrightness and veracity of the new justices. But, no one wanted to listen.
We tried to tell those of lower privilege that what was bad for Blacks was also bad for them, but they didn't listen.
Well, people who lie will lie to everyone. That is why these same justices, who have failed to follow precedent, since they've been on the Court, have taken away right after right of those not in the top three percent of wealth classification. People didn't pay attention.
Most Americans are fighting each other for a sliver of pie, determined by those who manipulate them into doing their dirty work. While the ultra privileged are plotting and planning how to keep decent Americans at each other's throats, they are also plotting how to take more from that sliver of pie. The privileged will watch from their throne of safety as the rest put themselves in jeopardy. Remember, people usually don't thank those whom they believe contributed to their downfall- look at Iraq as a prime example.
Americans had better stop being so selfish,face reality, and stop contributing to this chaos.

It's amazing that when most Blacks, and people who objectively look at the problems in this country, are right about the effects of laws, government actions and inactions, and the status of people and institutions, America looks the other way.
We predicted the war intentions and results. We tried to warn America about healthcare, schools, minimum wage, worker rights, the dishonesty of "faith-based" and the people that sell it, worker rights, the Mid-East and the lack of forthrightness and veracity of the new justices. But, no one wanted to listen.
We tried to tell those of lower privilege that what was bad for Blacks was also bad for them, but they didn't listen.
Well, people who lie will lie to everyone. That is why these same justices, who have failed to follow precedent, since they've been on the Court, have taken away right after right of those not in the top three percent of wealth classification. People didn't pay attention.
Most Americans are fighting each other for a sliver of pie, determined by those who manipulate them into doing their dirty work. While the ultra privileged are plotting and planning how to keep decent Americans at each other's throats, they are also plotting how to take more from that sliver of pie. The privileged will watch from their throne of safety as the rest put themselves in jeopardy. Remember, people usually don't thank those whom they believe contributed to their downfall- look at Iraq as a prime example.
Americans had better stop being so selfish,face reality, and stop contributing to this chaos.