ACR 140, as amended, Weber. 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.
This measure would commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, and would urge the State Department of Education to provide model instructional materials to schools that encourage schools to observe the decision with appropriate educational activities that help pupils understand the importance of tolerance, humanity, and equality of opportunity.
Fiscal committee: yes.
P2 1WHEREAS, High-quality education is essential to an informed
2citizenry, and is the foundation for democracy in the United States;
3and
4WHEREAS, Access to a high-quality education is the gateway
5to opportunity, America’s promise to all; and
6WHEREAS, A high-quality education for every citizen
7regardless of race, religion, ethnic background, or economic
8circumstance is a fundamental civil right under the American form
9of government; and
10WHEREAS, Education is the passport of opportunity that needs
11to be equally available for all; and
12WHEREAS, In 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled
13in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) 163 U.S. 537 that segregation of the
14races at public facilities was legal so long as these facilities were
15“separate but equal,” which legitimized segregated public schools;
16and
17WHEREAS, In 1952 and 1953, the United States Supreme Court
18heard oral arguments on consolidated cases on appeal from United
19States District Courts of Kansas, Delaware, Virginia, and South
20Carolina under the name of Brown v. Board of Education of
21Topeka (1954) 347 U.S. 483, alleging similar arguments to those
22offered by famed National Association for the Advancement of
23Colored People (NAACP) legal counsel Charles H. Houston, who
24played a role in nearly every civil rights desegregation case before
25the United States Supreme Court between 1930 and Brown v.
26Board of Education, that “separate but equal” schools were, in
27fact, never equal and that these schools violated individual rights
28to equal protection under the law guaranteed by the 14th
29Amendment to the United States Constitution; and
30WHEREAS, The arguments were presented on behalf of the
31NAACP by its Chief Counsel, Thurgood Marshall, who eventually
32became the first African American United States Supreme Court
33Justice; and
34WHEREAS, Thurgood Marshall argued that segregated schools,
35many of which were substandard, were psychologically damaging
36to black children, causing low self-esteem and low self-worth,
P3 1inherently depriving these children of equal protection under the
2law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the United States
3Constitution, and that under that amendment states had no legally
4valid reason to segregate and “use race as a factor in affording
5educational opportunities to its citizens”; and
6WHEREAS, Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren
7wrote that “education is perhaps the most important function of
8state and local governments,” and he persuaded each of the other
9eight justices of the Supreme Court that, even if schools were
10theoretically equal, the effect of segregation on black pupils
11“generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the
12community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely
13ever to be undone”; and
14WHEREAS, On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court
15in Brown v. Board of Education unanimously overturned the
16“separate but equal” doctrine of law; and
17WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court’s decision
18became the legal impetus to school desegregation throughout the
19United States, and led to one of the most profound social
20movements in the history of the United States; and
21WHEREAS, The reaction to the Brown v. Board of Education
22decision fueled emotions from both sides of the segregation
23argument, leading to the “Little Rock Nine,” a group of nine black
24high school students who were the first black students to attend
25the all white Little Rock High School in Arkansas. One of those
26students was Melba Pattillo Beals, who finished her high school
27education at the public Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa,
28California, and later received her bachelor’s degree from San
29Francisco State University; and
30WHEREAS, The activism generated to enforce the Brown v.
31Board of Education decision was a catalyst to the Civil Rights
32Movement for equality that gained momentum in the 1960s and
33led to further desegregation of public facilities; and
34WHEREAS, The struggle for equal access to high-quality
35education continues today; now, therefore, be it
36Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
37thereof concurring, That the Legislature commemorates the 60th
38Anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision,
39one of the landmark United States Supreme Court decisions of the
4020th Century; and be it further
P4 1Resolved, That the State Department of Education is urged to
2provide model instructional materials to schools that encourage
3schools to observe the Brown v. Board of Education decision with
4appropriate educational activities that help pupils understand the
5importance of tolerance, humanity, and equality of opportunity;
6and be it further
7Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the
8California School Boards Association, which is encouraged to
9disseminate copies to local boards of education throughout
10California; and be it further
11Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
12of the resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
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