The Justice Department accused the Walthall County School District in rural Mississippi of annually permitting more than 300 students, most of them white, to transfer to a school outside of their residential area, shifting its racial makeup.
Further, administrators at three other schools grouped most of the white students into their own classrooms "resulting in significant numbers of segregated all-black classrooms at each grade level," the U.S. government said in a court filing.
The case comes in a state that was at the heart of the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s. In 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi, an incident that helped prompt Congress to pass a law banning racial segregation in schools, work and public places.
The school district was ordered in 1970 to stop segregating its schools. But in the late 1980s officials were confronted by the Justice Department with concerns about student transfers to other schools that undermined the desegregation efforts.
While the district made some changes in the early 1990s, the Justice Department said the practices continued and the schools became "significantly more segregated." The district did not respond to the government's lawsuit seeking reforms.
In fact, the county school board in 2009 rejected a tentative settlement with the government that would have overhauled the district's transfer policy and prevented students being assigned to classrooms based on race.
LIMIT TRANSFERS
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, in Jackson, Mississippi, ordered the school district to significantly limit transfers. Lee also ordered the district to stop assigning students to classrooms that resulted in segregation, demanding that it use a software program to randomly assign them.
"It is unacceptable for school districts to act in a way that encourages or tolerates the resegregation of public schools," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
In 2008, the Walthall district had about 2,550 students -- of whom about 64 percent were black and 35 percent were white.
At four schools, less than a quarter of the students were white while at least 73 percent of the students were black in 2008, according to the government court filing. In 1992, the racial makeup of those schools was between 59 percent and 70 percent black and at least 30 percent white.
Meanwhile at another school, Salem Attendance Center, 66 percent of the students were white while a third were black students in 2008. That was a dramatic shift from 1992 when a majority, 58 percent, were black and 42 percent were white.
The change in the school racial makeup was not because of population shifts, but rather "the product of unlawful district transfer policies that permit hundreds of white students" to transfer each year, the Justice Department said.
The superintendent for the district declined to comment on the judge's ruling.
11 comments:
It's very disappointing that segregation is still a relevant issue today. It also shows that despite the advancement in equality, America is still far from a total equal society for all races.
The Civil Rights movement is not over, it will only end when we all sit beneath the shade of the tree of unity and hope and all the other stuff MLK said.
Im not sure whats going on here exactly, but it seems as if people high up in the background of these schools have their own agendas. Seriously, segragation was ended decades ago. Lets all be American and abide by law. Unless of course you control these population things and are apparently above the law??
Considering the mass change of racial diversity within each one of the schools percentages is something that the district shouldnt allow. The resegragation of the communities within Mississippi isnt something that the government should tolerate much less the district its self yet they seem to not want to do anything about it. The prejudice in the state can only go further if not contained in some aspect.
The segregation just shows how prevelant racism still is today. At the same time there is only so much laws and rules can do at some point it is people that have to change not policies.
Obviously the behavior of the school district was completely wrong. We should be done dealing with these issues, but this is a reminder that racial bitterness is still out there. The school district should find different ways of solving the issues between their kids, instead of avoiding the problem completely.
People should be able to transfer to schools outside of their districts if they choose, however, I believe that forcing them to do so is wrong.
haha o mississippi, when will you every learn that its not ok to seggregate your schools no matter how hard you try.The civil rights movement DID happen, even if you choose to ignore it and believe otherwise.
I think its ridiculous how some people think they are still living in 1960. This school district could not have thought they were going to get away with this "transfer" policy for long. The rest of the world has matured, so should they.
The superintendent for the district declined to comment on the judge's ruling....really?
It's insane to me that this sort of racial discrimination can be displayed so publicly and no one in the school district is ashamed. I'm not naive in thinking that racial discrimination no longer exists, however could they at least pretend that they are somewhat tolerant? This is 2010 and the people involved with initiating this segregation are living somewhere in the 1950's. I think it's about time they got caught up to speed.
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