KIPP. Brown

["GERALD BRACEY" <gbracey1@verizon.net>]

Peter,

At the risk of being labeled a reactionary or worse, I'd like to point out that Brown v. Board was not supposed to "end segregated schools in America."  It negated only de jure segregation, not de facto.  The texts you quote from the decision say as much.  The 14th Amendment comes into play only when there is a law allowing or requiring segregation.

But that is not my major problem with your cri de coeur.  My major problem is that I can't get anywhere beyond it.  OK, so what next?  In The Shame of the Nation Kozol describes schools that haven't seen a white kid in years.  What would you do about that?  If anything.  On NPR not too long ago, kids in an all-Hispanic high school in LA thought that was fine.  They didn't think it would be good if black or white kids came.  Clarence Thomas has argued that all-black schools can be models of achievement (while reaffirming Brown in terms of legal segregation).  

Did the kids in KIPP schools attend more racially integrated schools in the earlier grades?  If not, why do you make the segregation in KIPP an important issue in and of itself?    

Jerry