Brown v. Board of Education & Tim Wise

The Brown v. Board of Education and the time leading up to that decision was one of the most important times in our country. It put equality to education, one of the most valuable things in any persons life. But after the decision was made it took many years later until it was actually held in every city and state. But like it said on the Smithsonian website:

"Brown v. Board of Education did not by itself transform American society. Changing laws does not always change minds. But today, thanks in part to the victorious struggle in the Brown case, most Americans believe that a racially integrated, ethnically diverse educational system is a worthy goal, though they may disagree deeply about how to achieve it."

This quote really resonated with me because I feel it is so true. There are so many laws that are made and changing them doesn't mean that people will change there minds along with them. This is shown in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education when there were still many people in the country who believed that everything should be segregated - including schools.

I found the Tim Wise interview to be the most interesting, his idea of enlightened exceptionalism, or racism 2.0 intrigued me. This meant that people supported Obama because they viewed him as transcending race and that he was different from the "black or brown norm" - putting black or brown norm in a negative light and this is not really moving away from racism. Wise said that many people of color are just as bright and educated as Obama but with a different style. That people do not need to be just like Obama in order to be successful.

One of the things that Tim Wise said really affected me; he said that the "proof of racial equity will be the day that people of color can be as mediocre as white folks and still get hired." To me this quote was shocking because I never really saw racial equity as this. I thought things were equal if any person of race or color had the same school, job, or living opportunities. I never thought of it as racial equity was when anyone could be just as mediocre as the other - and this is so true. Until we can really prove that we have this in society we won't have reached anything.

The last thing that I found the most shocking from Tim Wise's interview was some of the stereotypes that 6/10 whites still (as of early 2000s) acknowledge and continue to make the stereotypes. They were: "1) Blacks are generally less intelligent, 2) Blacks are more aggressive and prone to criminality, 3) They are less patriotic, 4) They are less hardworking, 5) All blacks just want to live on welfare and not work." I found this the most shocking that people to this day still believe these stereotypes. After learning about this I feel like we really haven't made any progress at all over the years. It was very sad.