Deputy Chief of Mission Jeffrey D. Levine
Remarks on the Hajdúhadház Desegregation Case
Community Visit and Parent Forum
Hajdúhadház, Hungary
January 8, 2009
Good morning!
It is my pleasure to be here with you today as we recognize the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to desegregate schools in Hajdúhadház.
Let me begin by congratulating all of you for your extraordinary contributions to this achievement.
Equal education for all children is goal parents in America hold dear.
Those of you here today will be remembered by future generations for your courage and your commitment to the children of this community.
Here, in this place and at this time, you are writing the history that your children and their children will be proud of.
And with the passing of time, I am certain you will look back with great pride at the legacy you will have left.
The example you are setting, together with the Supreme Court’s historic ruling, cannot help but make us think of our own history.
In 1954, in the case known as Brown versus Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court outlawed school segregation and paved the way for equal access to education for all American children.
But while the court case is well-known for its impact on the American education system, few people may recall the history behind the case itself.
It is a history which I believe holds special relevance, and is one I would like to share with you today.
In the case of Brown versus Board of Education, the name “Brown” came from Mr. Oliver Brown, the father of eight-year-old Linda Brown.
Linda was an African-American girl who tried to enroll in an all-white school near their home.
The school was just seven blocks from her front door - considerably closer than her own school nearly two kilometers away.
But the school was only for white children. As an African-American, Linda was not permitted to enroll.
Before the now famous court decision, Oliver Brown lived a simple life with his family in the city of Topeka, Kansas.
There he worked as an assistant church pastor and a welder for the Santa Fe railroad.
He was a well-respected member in his small community. He would likely have described himself as an ordinary man: simple, hard working, and devoted to his family and his community.
But when Oliver Brown was denied the right to enroll his daughter in the school because of the color of her skin this ordinary man took an extraordinary step: he sued the city’s Board of Education.
His lawsuit touched off a legal process that eventually led to the landmark Supreme Court decision, a decision which ruled that separation could not constitute equality.
Mr. Brown’s courageous act marked the beginning of one of the most significant chapters in American history.
And it served to shape the extraordinary legacy of this otherwise ordinary man.
The story of Oliver Brown is important because it reminds us of the power of individuals in a free society, and it highlights the critical role all parents play in their children’s education.
Parents who are engaged and involved lead their children by example and contribute to their educational well-being.
I congratulate all of you here today who have made this commitment to your children and urge you to continue this commitment for the years to come.
The outcome of Brown versus Board of Education teaches us another important lesson about the struggle for school desegregation.
When the Supreme Court handed down the decision in the spring of 1954, it marked only the beginning of the end of school segregation in the United States.
After decades of legal segregation in public schools, the process of desegregation proved difficult and protracted.
The years that followed the Brown versus Board of Education decision were marked by an uneven response to the ruling by schools across the country.
For many years, African-American students continued to be barred entry to some schools.
Three years after the decision, a school in the state of Arkansas tried to block African-American students’ entry by force.
That same year, the state of Florida legislature declared the Supreme Court ruling null and void.
And in 1963, nearly ten years after the decision, the governor of the state of Alabama blocked the doors of a classroom at the University of Alabama to prevent African-American students from entering.
These examples illustrate that the struggle for true desegregation can stretch out over many years.
But as the last fifty years of American history has shown us, it is a struggle that must begin somewhere because it is a goal worth pursuing.
Children of all color in the United States are now afforded the same basic rights to education.
And the country as a whole is better and stronger because of it.
The Supreme Court ruling we are recognizing today is certainly worth being proud of.
And that pride will help the next steps of the journey.
In closing, I would like to leave you with a thought from perhaps the most prominent African-American lawyer and judge in American history.
Thurgood Marshall became known first as the lawyer who prevailed in the Brown versus Board of Education case. Later in his career he became the first African-American to serve as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Marshall once said, “A child born to a Black mother in a (poor) state like Mississippi... has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It's not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.”
I congratulate you on your achievements. And I take great pride that our own hard national experience may serve as a source of hope and inspiration.
Thank you.