The Brown v. Board Files....

“The Whole United States is Southern!”: Brown v. Board and The Mystification of Race

By Charles M. Payne

Payne’s article on the “mystification of race” shows how the term segregation and the philosophies that go along with it were used in a way to skew the pubilc perceptions of race and equality, and how power of those convictions alone were enough to detract from the importance of Brown v. Board, and even garnish great animosity of indifference towards it from both the white and black communities in the United States.
This article really demonstrated how complex the issues of race have been in this country, and how they have persisted like no other point in history. Slavery is nothing new. It existed for thousands of years, usually as the result of one nation or people conquering another. Basically, you lost, so now our slaves. But when it comes to slavery in the United States, in the 1800s, things were different. We linked slavery with ideas of race and inferiority, an way of thinking that became socially infused within our nation’s people
The effects of this way of thinking was so strong, that as Payne brings up on page 87, some argued that the civil war was an ideological victory for the Confederacy. As far their ideas concerning race and equality, they were right. Our social institutions and values taught led us to believe that blacks were inferior, which is why they were slaves, which was an entirely way of thinking when it came to race. Before that, it was rarely recognized in such a way, but as I said before these feelings of hatred or white superiority led to belief in segregation, which many were quick to support because of their beliefs about race. And those feelings continued to endured, even after the passing of Brown v. Board, as is demonstrated in this paper, and throughout our history. And obviously, those feelings that developed out of these initial ideas of race still linger, and at this point its really an issue that time will solve

Brown v. Board of Education and The Interest-Convergence Dilemna
By Derrick A. Bell Jr.

Bell’s article focused largely on the true interests of the Board v. Brown decision, and discusses Herbert Weischler’s theory that the decision was reached based on principles that were anything but neutral. I struggled at first to see this point, but it readily became clear as I read on.
It’s amazing to see how the decisions we often believe to be truly noble, are not actually made without other interests in mind. There were a number of positive outcomes that were argued to possible result from desegregation, much how there were a number of reasons that Lincoln decided to fight the American Civil War. Enabling blacks with equal rights was certainly a goal of the legislation, as was the abolition of slavery during the Civil War, but other reasons certainly came into play
It was these other factors that I found to be intriguing in Bell’s piece, particularly the argument that desegregation would improve U.S. relations with people all over the world. The world view of the U.S. would therefore be greatly improved, which obviously is important as foreign affairs always seem to be an issue this nation struggles with. However, I had never really thought about the international significance that result from Brown v. Board, yet the idea makes sense, as do the arguments that the perceptions of American blacks in the public eye would improve, as well as the claim that desgration would lead to further industrialization in the South.
I guess that when it comes to cases such as this, we sometimes take for granted the idea that the decision was reached purely on a moral basis of right and wrong, rather than the fact the a lot of different issues were raised and considered when it came to determining the benefits. Lincoln also fought the war because he believed in preserving the Union, and in the end, ending slavery proved to be necessary to complete that goal. The same could be said for a number of issues raised in Brown. V. Board.