Russ Feingold: “I speak today on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education. I join…”

“I speak today on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education. I join with all Americans in celebrating this decision, which, in many ways, inspired the modern civil rights movement. In Brown, the Supreme Court upheld the right of all children to an equal education in our public schools. In its unanimous opinion, the Court stated ``[w]e conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.'' With these historic words, the doors of public schools were required to be opened to all children, regardless of their race, and efforts to end segregation in other aspects of American society gained momentum. The slow integration of our public schools has been a difficult and sometimes painful process, with some clinging to any mechanism by which this process could be slowed or circumvented. The promise of children of all races and backgrounds coming together to study and to prepare for their futures has too often been clouded by the prejudices of adults. And while great strides have been made in the last 50 years, much work remains to be done to ensure that the phrase ``separate but equal'' is at long last relegated to the history books.”