WHEREAS, on May 14, 2014, the nation will mark the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the court unanimously ruled that “in the field of public education, the doctrine ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal;” and
WHEREAS, the Brown v. Board ruling was the culmination of decades of legal fights to end state-sponsored segregation in U.S. public schools; and
WHEREAS, the ruling is recognized as one of the most important U.S. court rulings of the 20th century because although it did not succeed in fully desegregating public schools, it gave a legal basis for ending racial segregation in society and galvanized the then-nascent civil rights movement; and
WHEREAS, the United Federation of Teachers has a long and proud history of supporting civil rights, racial equality and equal access to public education, including when, in 1954, a UFT precursor, the Teachers Guild, became the only AFT local to file an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Brown v. Board of Education case and in 1957, when the Guild gave its John Dewey Award to Thurgood Marshall, who had litigated the case; and
WHEREAS, the UFT’s commitment to racial and social justice continues today through our advocacy against education policies that perpetuate inequity, such as when the UFT, joined by the NAACP and others, prevailed against the Bloomberg administration in a 2010 lawsuit over school closures and co-locations; and
WHEREAS, our 2010 lawsuit and subsequent challenges to Bloomberg administration policies illustrated that the fight to prevent “separate and unequal” education continues today but in different forms, including in the battle to ensure that charter school co-locations do not come at the expense of district schools and that district public schools receive the same treatment, resources and funding as charter schools; and
WHEREAS, the long history that led to the Brown v. Board victory inspires us in our continuing fight for justice and equality because it shows that the most important victories are not won overnight but can take years of struggle; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and honors its significance to our country’s history through the UFT’s continuing fight for racial, social and economic justice in our schools, our city and our country.