50 Years Apart, Lakeview Ruling Parallels Brown vs. Board

Separate but equal is the definition of the Jim Crow laws that kept blacks and whites in the U.S. segregated everywhere from buses to water fountains. But that rule was undone 50 years ago, May 17, 1954 in the Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education. Today, the State of Arkansas has it`s own case similar to Brown: Lakeview vs. Huckabee. The case found that children in the state of Arkansas still face the same problems as they did fifty years ago. But now, school districts are separate in geography, instead of race, but still unequal in opportunity. "It`s a situation, you find history repeating itself," said Dr. Calvin King, Arkansas Board of Education member. Even though black and white students share the same classrooms, the case found that, statewide, not all of them were getting the same education. "What facilities are offered? What transportation modes are offered? What teacher salaries are paid?" asked Dr. Ken James, director, Arkansas Board of Education, about the factors the board must consider when consolidating school districts as a result of Act 60 in the Arkansas Legislature. Like Brown vs. Board, the Lakeview case set out to once again level the playing field. "Brown versus Board wasn`t just a situation dealing with black and white, it had to deal with adequacy and equity, with the funding and the financing," King said. Black or white, rich or poor, the difference between 1954 and 2004 is a lesson still to be learned.