Public schools in Mississippi are no longer required to desegregate after a 60-year-old court order was lifted. Some Black leaders and parents in Rankin County, Mississippi, are wondering what comes next.
According to Atlanta Black Star, attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) condemned the July 28 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Kristi Johnson. They argued that the same racial disparities and inequalities that existed in the 1960s are still in place.
Before the order was lifted, Black students had access to gifted and talented programs, Accelerated Programs, and the best teachers in Rankin County public schools.
But the order was lifted after a judge found that school facilities and student transportation were equal for both Black and white students.
In her ruling, Judge Johnson found that the school district had satisfied its constitutional obligations to dismantle intentional racial discrimination, according to Atlanta Black Star.
The original desegregation order dates back to 1967 when Black students and their parents sued to desegregate white schools and provide equal access in the school district.
The lawsuits came 13 years after Brown v. Board of Education declared public school segregation unconstitutional. However, Rankin County had yet to integrate its public schools.
Black students were bused past White majority schools to all-Black schools with inferior books, inadequate staffing, and limited operational budgets.
Parents fear that Mississippi’s racist past will come back to haunt them.