澳彩开奖

Their commencement took place a year and a week after a federal judge ordered the Cleveland School District 鈥� located in the heart of the historically black Mississippi Delta 鈥� to its two high schools to remedy the community鈥檚 longstanding inability to integrate its schools.

Three years earlier, a federal court had created a plan that allowed families to choose the school they wanted their children to attend. But "while plenty of black families took the opportunity to enroll in the district鈥檚 historically white schools, the reverse never happened,鈥� Bracey Harris for The Clarion-Ledger. The result was one racially mixed school, Cleveland High, and one all-black one, East Side High.

The district鈥檚 鈥渄elay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally guaranteed right to an integrated education,鈥� U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown in her 2016 opinion. It is the school district鈥檚 duty 鈥渢o ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.鈥�

Many school districts around the country share that duty. According to federal data released last year, many have yet to fulfill it.

In 2016, the Government Accountability Office reported that the number of high-poverty schools serving primarily black and brown students between 2001 and 2014. Today, of all black students attend majority-black schools.

It鈥檚 been more than half a century since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that 鈥渟eparate educational facilities are inherently unequal.鈥� So why are schools resegregating?

In part, it's because federal courts are no longer mandating their desegregation.

鈥淪ince the 1990s, hundreds of school districts have been released from court-ordered desegregation plans,鈥� Emma Brown for The Washington Post last year, 鈥渕aking way for renewed divisions by race and class.鈥�

In Mississippi, schools are starkly unequal. A strong education clause in the state鈥檚 post-Civil War constitution guaranteed a 鈥渦niform system of free public schools鈥� for all children, regardless of race. But the rights guaranteed under that clause have been diluted time and again. Today, the state鈥檚 schools are some of the most underfunded in the country 鈥� and they are anything but 鈥渦niform.鈥� All of the state鈥檚 F-rated schools, in fact, have overwhelmingly African-American student bodies, while the top five highest-performing school districts are predominantly white.

Segregating poor, black and Hispanic students from white and wealthy ones is not only intrinsically problematic, it means that they do not get the same high-quality resources as students at wealthier schools.

That鈥檚 what Dorothy Haymer discovered at Webster Elementary in Yazoo City, Mississippi, where her 6-year-old daughter is in kindergarten. Haymer spent $100 of her own money this year on sanitary supplies for the school, which lacks textbooks, literature, basic supplies, experienced teachers, sports, tutoring programs, and even toilet paper.

At Raines Elementary in Jackson, Precious Hughes describes聽similar conditions. It鈥檚 鈥渙ld, dark and gloomy 鈥� like a jail,鈥� she says, with peeling paint, water stains, and expired lunches.

Hughes and Haymer are two of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that we filed against Mississippi this week for repeatedly violating its obligation to provide students with a 鈥渦niform鈥� education.

鈥淭hese children deserve what the state promised: public schools that treat all children equally no matter their race,鈥� says Indigo Williams, another plaintiff in our suit.

That鈥檚 what graduating seniors in Cleveland, Mississippi, say they hope will come out of the merger of their two high schools.

鈥淚t鈥檚 emotional,鈥� East Side graduate Natashia Washington The Clarion-Ledger, 鈥渂ut better things are to come for Cleveland.鈥�

Students elsewhere in Mississippi ought to be able to expect the same.

The Editors.

PS Here are some other pieces this week that we think are valuable:

• by Brent Staples for The New York Times
• by Vann R. Newkirk for The Atlantic
• by Rachel Aviv for The New Yorker
• by Karen de S谩, Joaquin Palmonio and Cynthia Dizikes for San Francisco Chronicle
• by Emma Brown for The Washington Post

澳彩开奖's Weekend Reads are a weekly summary of the most important reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequity, and hate and extremism. Sign up to receive Weekend Reads every Saturday morning.