TaNesert 1

Net-Hetep TaNesert

Trista Martin, Instructor

LA202 OL2: English Composition: Creative Persuasion & Argument

November 5, 2016

Desegregating Black Schools Then and Now: African American Students Notions of
Racelessness

What were the real reasons behind forced desegregation of American Black Schools? America is
notorious for operating dual school systems under dual ideologies racially. Cultural
identification is a part of these ideologies. The federal mandate during the 60s and 70s forcibly
desegregated Black schools. During the 21st century, that federal order is non-existent and school
boards are encouraged to seek new ways to desegregate and integrate schools while still cloaking
their dual ideologies, racially. Desegregating Black schools was and is negative because
hundreds of black schools across America remain closed and are dealing with the drastic
episodic fluctuations of academic achievement patterns, which then and now mentally depresses
African American students with Notions of Racelessness.
Americas obedience to the 14th Amendment and Equal Protection Clause for newly freed slaves
and their descendants remains overdue. Some Black schools are still waiting to live a portion of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s integration dream. Meanwhile, Black teachers remain academically
steadfast to the careful nurturing of young Black minds. It is a challenging task because of the
enduring negative effects of desegregation of Black schools has drastically changed everything.

TaNesert 2

The continuing decline of Black Schools and the rising trend of Black Private, Charter, and
Magnet Program Schools

One of the first things affected then and now is the schools within Black communities. In 1971,
desegregation laws forced academic and civil grassroots movements to create specialized courses
to reopen their schools under new programs known as Magnet in Tampa, Florida (Shircliffe
2002). It appears that the only way to save most of the closing or closed community schools is to
reopen them as privately funded Charter schools or compete for federal funds using the
specialized courses of magnet programs. A documented adverse affect of magnet programs
within a desegregated school proved that a dual school system remains fully, operational. GerstlPepins case study entitled, Magnet Schools: A Retrospective Case Study of Segregation
involved a students personal experiences at Northeast High School (1981-1985), which is a
magnet school in Oklahoma. It proved that white middle class students attended separate classes
from the black and other racially classified minority students who live in the surrounding area of
that community (Gerstl-Pepin, High School Journal 85.3 (2002): 47-52). It concluded that a
dual school system still exists. Academically, white students were being better prepared to
attend college while black students and other minority students under that same program, are
classified as failures (Gerstl-Pepin 2002).

When examining the nature of things in this manner, it is easy to see how the dual ideologies of
white superiority still encourage the antiquated shroud of black inferiority. Therefore, the trend
of opening Black Private, Charter and Magnet Schools have proven to also be ineffective against
the continuing negative impact of desegregating Black Schools, past and present.

TaNesert 3

Dealing with the drastic episodic fluctuations of Black academic achievement patterns
stimulated by Desegregating Black Schools: Is There a Way?

Forcibly desegregating black schools remains the unpredictable culprit of the drastic up and
down decline in academic achievement for K-12th grade students. During the 60s and 70s, the
NAACP civil rights movement was the premier gateway opener for black student achievement
opportunities. Enrollment in K-12 grades among black communities during those eras across
America rated higher than any statistics for African American academic achievements today in
2016. Included in this excitement for higher education among graduating high school black
students was college enrollment and completion as well during those optimistic black
achievement eras. However, after desegregation was judicially mandated, a noticeable and
perplexing seesaw effect in academic achievements across the board K-undergraduate and higher
continuing degrees have resulted. Another tedious case study by Howard Universitys Alumni,
Antoine M. Garibaldi-Four Decades of progress . . . and decline: Assessment of African
American educational attainment (Journal of Negro Education 1997, pg 105) records all of the
statistical data gathered during the time mentioned. In it, he shockingly documents that since
1976, at the graduate level in areas of masters and doctorate degrees there is an alarming decline
steadily.

In summary, the unthinkable is happening when it comes to recognizing whether or not

desegregating Black Schools was worth the risk, academically. Statistical data is proving that an
adverse affect instead is rearing its head and black schools demographically still trapped in
impoverished areas not only remain segregated but there is evidence showing drastic fluctuations
in Black students roller coaster pattern, academically.

TaNesert 4

Desegregating Black Schools created a new and continuing Mental Illness among African
American Students

One of the lasting crippling affects of desegregating the black schools is the newly created and
ongoing mentally depressing reality of Notions of Racelessness as an ongoing experience by
African American students. Notions of Racelessness is a cultural academic concept defined as a
pragmatic strategy used by African American students who rebel against the oppositional
dominant educational authorities in white schools. One strategy is retaining an individual
identity of their Blackness by not conforming to acts that academically achieving white students
do, i.e., long hours in the library, etc (Fordham, 1988, pp 54-85; Columbus, 2015, pp 56-61).
The opposition shown by black students since 1997opposed to receiving their education in
predominately-white schools reflects the culturally rebelling attitudes of the black students today
in 2016. What is the developing cause of this rebellion? The developing cause stimulating these
rebellious actions stems from white teachers showcasing attitudes that ignore black students in
various educational environments. Black students are depressed and frustrated. Increasing this
mentally depressing notion of Racelessness in black academic achievements is the continuing
historically incorrect misrepresentations of African, African-American cultural contributions
socially, civilly, and artistically from a worldview in textbooks. Stereotypically, black students
are thought to be inferior to white and other racially non-black groups, do not value education,
low motivational skills, etc. Author Kassie Freeman believes that there needs to be what she
calls, Rethinking Social Justice and Assimilation when trying to comprehend what devaluation
feels like as a black student of any age (2006).

TaNesert 5

What should the White Academia realize? The most important thing needing recognition from
white academia is cultural identification is strong among black students, and in order to keep
them motivated to learn, textbooks and educational environments must change.

Opposing Argument: The Imperative of Integration

Author Elizabeth Anderson in her book entitled, The Imperative of Integration (2010) points
out the socio-political, and educational benefits of integration. Integration in her ideal theory
supports the ideology that black students have more advanced educational opportunities than
they would if allowed to remain in segregated schools. However, she also assesses that as
America tries to develop a prominent national inclusive identity, desegregation remains a
sensitive reflection of a policy goal revealing all of the tragic failures of a plan lacking an
effective model before dismantling racism (Political Studies Review: 2014 Vol 12, 345-346).

The concluding assessment stated by Anderson proves that without an effective plan to dismantle
racism first in America, desegregation of Black Schools then and now remains a negative one.

In summary, inexhaustible studies from various case studies from leading academic universities,
law schools, etc., along with their copious evidences prove that desegregation of black schools
failed to immunize its ongoing negative affects among black communities across America.
Historically, desegregation of black schools then and now remains the political culprit that
caused the closing of hundreds of black schools across America, along with instigating the
horrible decline in academic achievement K-12, and the mentally depressing African American
students notions of Racelessness.

TaNesert 6

Citations
Anderson, Elizabeth. The Imperative of Integration. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press,
2010. Print.
Anderson, Elizabeth. "Reply To Critics of the Imperative of Integration. Political Studies
Review 12.3 (2014): 376-382. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.
Columbus, Marco. Validating the CCAM and Building the PCI Theory. International Journal
of Humanities and Social Science Invention ISSN (Online): 2319-7722, ISSN (Print) 2319-7714
www.ijhssi.org Volume 4 Issue 1/January. 2015/PP, 56-61
Fordham, Signithia. (1988) Racelessness as a Factor in Black Students' School Success:
Pragmatic Strategy or Pyrrhic Victory? Harvard Educational Review: April 1988, Vol. 58, No.
1, pp. 54-85. Web. 6 Nov. 2016
Freeman, Kassie. "If Only My Eyes Were Different: The Loss Of Identity And The UnderUtilization Of Black Children's Educational Potential - Rethinking Social Justice And
Assimilation. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Fr
Erziehungswissenschaft 52.1/2 (2006): 49-65. Omni File Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web.
23 Oct. 2016
Garibaldi, Antoine M. "Four decades of progress...and decline: An assessment of African
American educational attainment. Journal of Negro Education 1997: 105. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
Gerstl-Pepin, Cynthia I. "Magnet Schools: A Retrospective Case Study of Segregation. High
School Journal 85.3 (2002): 47-52. Omni File Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 23 Oct.
2016.
Shircliffe, Barbara J. "Desegregation and the Historically Black High School: The Establishment
of Howard W. Blake in Tampa, Florida. Urban Review 34.2 (2002): 135. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.