is Brown vs. Board of Ed. unraveling or just growing up?

Yesterday a decision was made by the US Supreme Court that elementary through secondary schools can no longer (for the most part) use race as a factor for admissions. When I first read this I was like yea that makes sense; colorblind admissions are the most fair in this day and age in my opinion. But as I continued to read the 4 articles/editorials published in this morning’s New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/index.html?th&emc=th) I was really surprised at the intense opposition in most of the articles. There was a huge uproar that this overwhelmingly conservative court under Bush is now completely negating Brown vs. Board of Education which required racial integration of schools after the segregation era. After reading these arguments it made sense, but there were a bunch of things missing from their arguments. Now I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on politics or news or crap like that, but I believe I am knowledgeable and intuitive enough to put my opinion forward.

Though Brown vs. Board of Ed. is undoubtedly one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in US history, there are some things about this new Supreme Court decision that we should think about:
Is this decision unraveling the principles of Brown vs. Board of Ed or just showing that we have grown up as a country and race is no longer as important a factor as it once was?
Are we just getting defensive because this is ultra-conservative Bush’s Supreme Court?
Why is there no mention of the fact that Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court’s only minority justice voted with the majority to make race a less important factor in admissions?

These are just food for thought. Questions that I believe must be considered before making a rational decision.

I don’t have a solid opinion on this decision yet thought I most agree with this guy (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/washington/29schools.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th), but I do have an opinion on the use of race in admissions of any kind. Originally, Brown vs. Board of Ed. was so profound a decision because it now gave blacks access to the same education as whites. Race was a huge dividing factor in terms of access to education and then through law this was no longer made appropriate. That was the 1950’s. We now live on the brink of the 2010’s and I don’t believe race is the most prominent dividing factor in terms of access to good education. I personally believe this factor is socio-economic status more than anything. Those of lower SES do not usually have access to a good elementary and secondary education and therefore do not have the same educational privileges and opportunities as those of higher SES. Now I know that there is a strong correlation between SES and race, but then why do we need to consider race at all? Wouldn’t giving a black middle class child admission into a good elementary school over a poor white kid be just as bad as giving a white middle-class child admission over a poor black child? If there is a strong correlation between race and SES, then by doing colorblind admissions that does consider SES wouldn’t you still end up with the racially diverse school you were looking for?


I’m not saying that I, a white, middle-class suburban girl who has access to some of the greatest opportunities the world can offer, has any expertise in this area. I’m not saying my opinion is finite or un-malleable. All I am doing is posing this question; should we make race matter so much?