Public education is at the heart of the civil rights struggle in the United States. The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which concluded that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, established the legal basis for ending racial segregation in society and energized the civil rights movement of the 20th century. That’s why it’s heartening that two civil rights organizations acting independently of each other — the venerable NAACP and the newly minted Movement for Black Lives — have proposed a freeze on charter schools.

It’s significant because the rhetoric of charter advocates has long been that only charter schools can save young black lives. These two civil rights groups say differently.

The NAACP at its convention in July passed a resolution calling for a freeze on the growth of charter schools; one NAACP official called it the organization’s strongest anti-charter language to date. The Movement for Black Lives not long after released its first policy agenda recommending a moratorium on charter schools and a halt to closing public schools.

Both the NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives see the rapid growth of charter schools as the privatization of public education that ultimately harms black families and communities. The Movement for Black Lives also is demanding greater investment in community schools that provide health and social services.

The proliferation of charter schools, in fact, has exacerbated inequities, leaving many public schools with the most challenging students and fewer resources. And it is not just in New York City. Public schools in Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles are grappling with these issues.

In Camden, New Jersey, a state-operated district where charter school networks have mushroomed, one analyst made an assessment that could apply to many other cities. “What you’re not seeing is a whole lot of boats uplifted,” Stephen Danley, an assistant professor of public policy and administration at Rutgers University, told NJ Spotlight, an online policy journal. “What you’re seeing are hopefully some marginal gains in a very, very difficult situation. And at what cost?”

We know the cost is borne by public schools and their students, particularly students of color. But the recognition that the civil rights movement of the 21st century has homed in on the charter issue as a problem gives us hope for changes to come.