Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2639, the Strength in Diversity Act. I thank this bill's sponsor, Congresswoman Fudge, and Chairman Scott for shepherding this bill through the Education and Labor Committee. Nearly 20 years after Brown v. Board of Education, lesser-known Supreme Court cases like Milliken v. Bradley determined that segregation was allowed, if not considered an explicit policy, of each school district. This meant schools and communities were not held responsible for desegregation. Busing policies meant to integrate city and suburban schools were abandoned and the inequality created by racist redlining and exclusionary housing policies continued, keeping Black Americans out of the suburbs and trapped in underfunded schools to this day. Today, the school system at the center of Milliken v. Bradley, Detroit's, is more segregated than it was in 1974. This bill will provide grants to improve racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools, an essential step toward fulfilling the promise of Brown v. Board, ending the segregation that continues to plague school districts across this country, including in my own district, Michigan's Ninth. Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court's first Black Justice, warned in his dissent in Milliken v.…”