DOJ Oversight of School Consolidation in Oktibbeha County
The Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District is more than halfway through its first year. Consolidation should have occurred many years ago, but the success of this effort now proves that it’s never too late to do the right thing. Our community can take pride in the fact that we are finally on the path to offering equal educational opportunities for all the children in our county.
One of the last steps is to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. The district has submitted a good plan, but it will require a few uncomfortable changes. So why does the Department of Justice have any authority over our local public schools in the first place? A refresher in history might be helpful.
President Ulysses S. Grant and the Congress created the Justice Department in 1870, five years after the Civil War ended, to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments. The 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans, especially newly freed slaves whose rights were contested, to say the least. The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. In short, the Justice Department was established as the federal government’s way of enforcing “liberty and justice for all.”
Fast forward to the mid-20th century. The U.S. Supreme Court, in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, ruled that segregated public education violated the 14th Amendment. Massive white resistance in Mississippi prevented the enforcement of this ruling for 16 years. The severity and degree of this massive resistance cannot be overstated. Mississippi used state-sanctioned terror against black citizens who pressed for school integration. Dr. Douglas Conner led the local effort for desegregation in Starkville.
The Supreme Court ran out of patience with massive resistance. In 1969, in another landmark decision, Alexander vs. Holmes, the Supreme Court spoke directly to thirty school districts in Mississippi but ultimately to the entire South, when it ordered the immediate termination of dual black and white school systems.
In February 1970, a U.S. District Court judge in Aberdeen ordered an end to Starkville’s dual system beginning in the 1970-71 school year. Racially segregated public schools were outlawed, and integration occurred throughout the state. Since the state of Mississippi had officially fought this change, federal enforcement was necessary. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, had and continues to have the authority to enforce desegregation orders of the federal courts.
Whenever a change in the education status quo occurs, such as school consolidation, the Department of Justice has the responsibility to make sure school districts are not trying to reestablish de facto segregated public schools.
In short, the Justice Department is involved in local public schools because of our history of racial inequality. Evangelical author Jim Wallis, in his 2016 book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, writes, “For much of the twentieth century, African Americans were marginalized by racial segregation and silenced by humiliating Jim Crow laws that denied basic economic, social, and political rights.”
The Justice Department is still involved over 45 years later because profound racial inequality persists, not just in Mississippi but all across America. Fortunately, we are working to improve education and race relations in our area. School consolidation is bringing us together, literally and figuratively. We still have hurdles to cross, but we have a plan and a vision to accomplish the plan. What a great time to live in Oktibbeha County!
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist.
One of the last steps is to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice. The district has submitted a good plan, but it will require a few uncomfortable changes. So why does the Department of Justice have any authority over our local public schools in the first place? A refresher in history might be helpful.
President Ulysses S. Grant and the Congress created the Justice Department in 1870, five years after the Civil War ended, to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments. The 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans, especially newly freed slaves whose rights were contested, to say the least. The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote. In short, the Justice Department was established as the federal government’s way of enforcing “liberty and justice for all.”
Fast forward to the mid-20th century. The U.S. Supreme Court, in the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, ruled that segregated public education violated the 14th Amendment. Massive white resistance in Mississippi prevented the enforcement of this ruling for 16 years. The severity and degree of this massive resistance cannot be overstated. Mississippi used state-sanctioned terror against black citizens who pressed for school integration. Dr. Douglas Conner led the local effort for desegregation in Starkville.
The Supreme Court ran out of patience with massive resistance. In 1969, in another landmark decision, Alexander vs. Holmes, the Supreme Court spoke directly to thirty school districts in Mississippi but ultimately to the entire South, when it ordered the immediate termination of dual black and white school systems.
In February 1970, a U.S. District Court judge in Aberdeen ordered an end to Starkville’s dual system beginning in the 1970-71 school year. Racially segregated public schools were outlawed, and integration occurred throughout the state. Since the state of Mississippi had officially fought this change, federal enforcement was necessary. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, had and continues to have the authority to enforce desegregation orders of the federal courts.
Whenever a change in the education status quo occurs, such as school consolidation, the Department of Justice has the responsibility to make sure school districts are not trying to reestablish de facto segregated public schools.
In short, the Justice Department is involved in local public schools because of our history of racial inequality. Evangelical author Jim Wallis, in his 2016 book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, writes, “For much of the twentieth century, African Americans were marginalized by racial segregation and silenced by humiliating Jim Crow laws that denied basic economic, social, and political rights.”
The Justice Department is still involved over 45 years later because profound racial inequality persists, not just in Mississippi but all across America. Fortunately, we are working to improve education and race relations in our area. School consolidation is bringing us together, literally and figuratively. We still have hurdles to cross, but we have a plan and a vision to accomplish the plan. What a great time to live in Oktibbeha County!
Brother Rogers works at the Stennis Center for Public Service and is a guest columnist.