Civil Rights Battle Continues, Speaker Says
William T. Coleman Jr. speaks about the second Brown v. Board of Education decision Wednesday night at Chautauqua Institution’s Athenaeum Hotel. Coleman served on Justice Thurgood Marshall’s legal team. P-J photo by Nate Dougherty |
By NATE DOUGHERTY
CHAUTAUQUA — America has come a long way since Brown v. Board of Education II forced the desegregation of schools in 1955, but the purpose of the case has not yet been fully realized.
That was the message William T. Coleman Jr. brought to those gathered in the Athenaeum Hotel at the Chautauqua Institution on Wednesday. Coleman, a member of Thurgood Marshall’s legal team that argued the Brown cases, said Americans still have vestiges of segregation through all parts of society.
‘‘Why hasn’t Brown done exactly what we hoped?’’ Coleman posed to the close to 100 in attendance. ‘‘We always said we wanted to desegregate. It didn’t work because in 1954, it was amazing to what point the United States still didn’t want integration.’’
Coleman said programs meant to help improve civil rights for African-Americans still ended up segregating these communities. Some schools, once desegregated by Brown v. Board I and II, have become segregated again through economics and other factors.
‘‘The fact is we talked about what a great job Franklin Roosevelt did with public housing, but public housing is still segregated,’’ Coleman said. Though his words were dipped with the pessimism of someone who questioned one of his greatest achievements, Coleman still said America is much better for having the Brown decisions.
‘‘That said, our country has made tremendous progress,’’ Coleman said. ‘‘Look at the president three years ago. When he traveled and spoke, he would have Colin Powell on one side and Condoleezza Rice on the other. There has been this complete change.’’
Coleman was introduced by John Barrett, St. John’s University law professor. Barrett spoke of the people who were at the event, some literally and others in spirit.
He told of how two years after the second Brown decision, Justice Marshall made a trip to the Chautauqua Institution to speak about the decision at the Amphitheater — a scant few hundred yards from where Coleman spoke.
‘‘He delivered a very optimistic perspective of the case,’’ Barrett said. ‘‘He’s here with us this evening.’’
Coleman listened intently while Barrett introduced him and listed his accomplishments. His hand on his chin, Coleman looked the part of a judge carefully listening to a court deliberation.
‘‘Bill Coleman’s name is someone whose name and legacy I heard many times as a law clerk in Philadelphia,’’ Barrett said.
Coleman, who was born in Philadelphia, also served in advisory or consultant positions to seven presidents in the years after his work with the NAACP. He was awarded the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award in 1977.
While speaking realistically about the legacy of Brown v. Board II, Coleman said the ruling is one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in American history.
‘‘Anytime you doubt the results, you can just imagine the United States today without Brown,’’ Coleman said.