Cornel West Quotes

Schools should be integrated by race and by class.

In the early 1970s in Atlanta, I attended what had formerly been an all-white school but had become a black school after integration and white flight. Perhaps because of this, the teachers created a curriculum that included a focus on African American literature and history year-round, not just in February.

During the decades after Brown v. Board of Education there was terrific progress. Tens of thousands of public schools were integrated racially. During that time the gap between black and white achievement narrowed.

I am opposed to busing for the purpose of achieving racial balance in our schools.

Education is more than buildings and faculties. It is a habit of mind. With the 14th Amendment, states do not have the choice. Segregation violates equal protection. Separate education is not sufficient for today's problems. It is not reasonable to educate people separately for a joint life

I think for what success looks like for me, it is a world in which you can look at the achievement scores, the academic scores, of any school anywhere in this country [the USA], and you wouldn't be able to look at the score and determine what the racial makeup or the socioeconomic makeup of that school is simply because of the academic achievement levels.

Wherever schools can be integrated through the busing method, and where it won't be just a, a terrible inconvenience, I think it ought to be done.

We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal education opportunities? We believe that it does.

I'm a big believer that there's more power in numbers and the more you can expand the stories that are relevant to both communities, the better. For example, a school that's terrible for black kids is terrible for brown kids. We have to figure out ways to navigate the school systems and make sure that we're investing in a public education system that's beneficial for all kids.

The Brown decision promised that every child, regardless of the color of his or her skin, would have unequivocal access to quality education and an equal opportunity to pursue his/her dreams.

The United States is not a nation of black and white people. Any fool can see that white people are not really white, and that black people are not black.

I couldn't go to school with whites. Now there are schools that educate everyone.

Segregation has no place in the education system.

Sidney Poitier became a star in part by helping black and white Americans negotiate their new relationship in the post-Civil Rights era.

I think in some cases busing did improve the situation in some areas; in some cases it didn't. We had busing in St. Louis, and it has been ended and we are using other methods of trying to better integrate the schools.

In America we believe that every child, no matter where they live, who their family is, or what the color of their skin, is entitled to as good an education as the richest parent in America can give to their children.

The Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences?

The point we must aim at is to obtain admittance for our children to the nearest and the best schoolhouse.

That there be equal educational opportunities for all and in all the States, and that public school expenditure be the same for Negro and white child.

School desegregation cases overturned not only the constitutional precedents built up over three quarters of a century but the social structure of an entire region ... Desegregation decrees have all the qualities of social legislation ...

The United States Office of Education has likewise been guilty of spreading racial equality propaganda. In a report to the press, Dr. John W. Studebaker, head of the Office of Education, and his Negro assistant, Dr. Ambrose Caliver, who is racial adviser in the office of Education, called upon the colleges and universities of the South to open their doors to Negro students

I have consistently opposed forced bussing to achieve integration.

Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, it's time for us to take a hard look at the separate and unequal conditions that still exist in our schools and our communities and rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity for all.

School desegregation is associated with higher graduation rates, greater employability, higher earnings, and decreased rates of incarceration.

I grew up in the era of the desegregation program. I actually got bussed to a predominately white high school. I didn't have a choice.