Black History Month: The Crisis in Black Education

This February, across America, we once again celebrate Black History Month. In 1976, the week was extended for the entire month and celebrated all over America. Although Black History Month was primarily established to celebrate and honor the work of African Americans and historic leaders of the Black community, the revelry signifies unity and recognition cutting across all racial and geographical barriers.

This year’s national theme for Black History Month is “The Crisis in Black Education” – directing our focus on the chronic and still widening achievement gap we see among African American students and their white counter parts. Countless members of the African American community have called attention to the social crisis that results from persistently imposed racial barriers to equal education. 50 years after, Brown v. Board of Education, it seems the vestiges of separate and still not equal remain, albeit under the surface – in the statistics. The touted benefits of education remain elusive to many blacks of all ages, and these short comings can be consequentially linked to the growing crisis in our criminal justice system. Tragically, poor performance in school too often serves as pipelines to prisons, and these youth are more often than not black and brown. A lack of a quality education results in a lack of skills, ultimately leading to high unemployment and an increased likelihood to become entangled with the prison industrial complex.

Systemic economic and racial injustices continue to inhibit efforts to make a quality education available to all American students. Despite years of education reform the achievement gap in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolis is large and still growing. According to the Education Equality Index (EEI), a rapidly shrinking number of students from low-income families in the metropolis are likely to attend schools that put them on an equal playing field with their more advantaged peers.

Despite increasingly polarized politics, Congress can still and has in fact found common ground in the world of education – giving more control to local authorities to tailor their programs to meet the unique needs of students in different parts of the country. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law by President Obama on December 10, 2015. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity. Most importantly, the ESSA maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over extended periods of time.

We celebrate Black History month as a means to be better stewards of the privileges we have gained. There is perhaps no greater privilege gained than the great equalizer that is education. As students from low income families in our own community fall further and further behind, across the state and nation we must ensure that our most vulnerable children have the opportunities they need to thrive. We have a long way to go but by remaining aware and engaged with our political process and directly in our communities, we can ensure a better future for our most prized resource –our children.