Divided We Fail: The Story of an African American Community That Ended the Era of School Desegregation [Hardcover]

I read Divided We Fail, in exchange for review from Netgalley.com. The book was written by Sara Garland and published by Beacon Press.

The book discusses how schools used to admit (or not admit) students based on race. Students would be bussed to other schools to receive a sub-par education. For example, the book discussed Central high. Local students were being bussed to a different, sub-par school, while the higher quality school in the neighborhood, was set for closure. To maintain an open status, Central high had to have a Caucasian majority, but the school did not attract enough Caucasians. According to the book, no school in that district could have more than 42% African-American population to ensure compliance.

The African-American parents were upset. Send the kids to the closer, better school. A lawsuit followed and the school was allowed to remain open. The Caucasians also sued because their children could not attend their school of choice.

The book basically discusses the Central High case because it was brought together by an African-American community. The African-American communities were facing teacher firings and school closings once desegregation ended. The firings and closings led to an increase in protests and lawsuits.

I also enjoyed the story of Dionne. Dionne wanted to be a lawyer and thought Central High's law magnet program will be a starting point to achieving her dreams. She applied for admission to the school around 1996. She been wanting to be apart of the program since middle school. The letter said she was being considered for admission to Central High. Her mother received another letter, asking about first and second choice schools, just in case Central did not accept Dionne. Dionne already had to be bussed over an hour away to attend Elementary and middle school, even though another elementary school was in walking distance. Dionne was rejected for Central high because the middle school sent her transcripts to her house, instead of the school. She was placed in her regular high school but she missed orientation because the letter arrived late. Dionne was an interesting story and chapter to read.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, wanting to hear more about desegregation and how this community fought to end it.

As a nation, we have made great strides toward racial equality--there's a popular African-American in the White House, after all--yet in certain segments of American society, disparities persist. There is perhaps no greater glaring disparity as the differences in achievement levels between African-Americans and other students in our public schools. School desegregation arguably led to some progress for blacks, but, as Sarah Garland tells the story in Divided We Fail: The Story of an African-American Community that Ended the Era of School Desegregation, many African-Americans recognize that desegregation is not a panacea leading to equality but may make things worse for black students.

Garland focuses on the story of public school desegregation in Louisville, Kentucky. Like many communities, in Louisville, students were bused all over the district to satisfy mandated quotas of black and white students. Many blamed the decline of black neighborhoods on this dispersion of students from neighborhood schools. Without the anchor of a common school, neighbors felt less attachment and pride in the neighborhood. In fact, some of the traditionally majority black schools had seen great improvements, winning battles for better facilities and materials. But when busing began, the student base dispersed, and the black community lost some of its unification.

Many black students lost the opportunity to attend schools in their neighborhoods. They also lost the opportunity to attend school with black peers, and to be taught by black teachers. In fact, many black teachers and administrators lost their positions. White parents weren't happy about their children attending class with black kids, but to be taught by black teachers, well, that was unthinkable. The end result "felt like an effort to assimilate black people and erase their identity and culture, and, at the same time, seemed like a not-so-subtle way of reasserting white dominance over blacks."

Another part of the irony was that black students were being excluded from special programs based on their race! This is what triggered the case about which Garland spends the most time in her book. In order to revitalize the traditionally black high school, several magnet programs and special emphasis programs were created. But white students generally didn't want to attend that school. As the white population declined, few quota slots for black students were available. When black students were then denied entry, parents started the lawsuit that, thankfully, led to the end of mandated desegregation in Louisville. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote, "The was to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

The most troubling, overarching theme of Divided We Fail is the sick consequences of excessive government intervention. One sure way to destroy something is to add more and more government policies. The school system, black neighborhoods, African-American cultural identity, and black-white race relations were all harmed by the misguided hand of government intrusion in Louisville. I like to think that there were good intentions behind many of these policies, but the cynic in me tends to think that white, racist leaders were perfectly happy and had full knowledge of what they were doing. This case, and the whole Louisville busing experience, demonstrates yet another example of the many and varied ways that government harms society, especially the poorest and most marginal.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Contemporary education reform is often positioned as the next phase of the civil rights movement. Reformers say they are working to fulfill the unmet promise of Brown v. Board of Education. But before charter schools and accountability, civil rights activists had another answer to the problem of educational inequity: school desegregation. Why did desegregation fail to lead to equal opportunity? Sarah Garland's book answers this question -- and, in doing so, previews challenges facing current attempts to transform educational opportunity.