E-mail a friendWade Henderson
airdate May 17, 2004
Attorney Wade Henderson has spent his career as an advocate. Known for his expertise on a wide range of civil rights, civil liberties and human rights issues, he's the Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation's oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition. Henderson began his career as a legislative counsel to the ACLU. He also served as the Washington Bureau Director of the NAACP, where he directed the government affairs and national legislative program.
Wade Henderson
Tavis: I could not conclude our many conversations about Brown v. Board of Education without talking to Wade Henderson. He is the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, perhaps the leading non-partisan civil and human rights group in the country. Prior to that, he was the Washington bureau director for the NAACP. He joins us tonight from Washington. Wade, nice to see you there, man.
Wade Henderson: Great seeing you, too, Tavis.
Tavis: Glad to have you on the program. As I said a moment ago, I couldn't conclude these series of conversations without talking to you because of your unique perspective, so let me start with a very direct and forthright question--what do you make of Brown v. Board 50 years later, since today is the day?
Henderson: Wow. First, it was the single most important court decision of the 20th century. I mean, Brown was literally the beginning of the end of American apartheid.
Tavis: Let me stop--let me jump in right quick. Forgive me already. Let me jump in right quick because a number of folk have made that argument. I recall the late, great Leon Higginbotham making the same argument, that it was in fact, without question, the most important decision by the Supreme Court in the entire 20th century. Tell me why you really believe that.
Henderson: Oh, I think, without question, it fits that bill. First, Brown was the most profoundly transformative court decision of the 20th century, which means that it had a greater impact on changing the way Americans lived their lives than almost any other court decision ever rendered, in fact, of any other court decision. It literally turned American society on its head. After all, before Brown, the society was separated along lines of race. After Brown, that became illegal. And in that sense, it literally was the opening salvo of the second American Revolution. That is, the revolution for equal rights. That's what makes it so important.
Tavis: This is all--I'm sorry. Go ahead, please.
Henderson: I was simply going to say that in addition, though, to being a transformative decision, Brown was also about public education, and therein lies some of the difficulty that we're going to discuss tonight.
Tavis: I'm glad I let you finish that thought because I wanted to go exactly there, so you must be prophetic or psychic or something like that. Because what I wanted to ask was what you think we have gained or lost--this is all conjecture and hyperbole, 50 years later. But what do you think we have won or lost, specifically as a country, that this war was in fact waged around the issue of education as opposed to public accommodations or health or employment. What have we gained or lost because it happened to be around the issue of public education?
Henderson: Well, I think what we gained was becoming a nation closer to that envisioned in the words of the Constitution: 'a more perfect union,' a nation where the rights of all citizens were guaranteed and equally applied. That can't be underestimated.
At the same time, I think that Brown was a bit of a disappointment in that the massive resistance generated by state governments and, unfortunately, by a society reluctant to change its ways. It made more difficult to implement the real promise of Brown. From an educational standpoint, Brown has been a bit of a disappointment because even though we ended segregated schools--at least formally--of course segregation still exists in very real ways. And what we haven't done is we haven't fulfilled the promise of a quality public education for all American children. And that remains the promise to be filled by Brown.
Tavis: Is that because--the fact that we haven't fulfilled Brown's legacy--is that because of pure politics, that people have different ideas about how it ought to be done? Or is it because, as it was 50 years ago, there is still massive resistance to the notion of equal access to high quality education for all Americans even today?
Henderson: Well, I think we're beyond the problem of massive resistance. That is to say the resistance that we saw in the media in the aftermath of Brown of course was serious and deep and blocked any real implementation of the promise of Brown. At the same time, today a lot has changed. There is a greater acceptance of the idea that every child deserves a quality public education. And, indeed, the anniversary of Brown is really a reminder of the duty of all Americans to provide a quality education for all kids.
I think why we haven't done it is really for 3 reasons. One--we do need to improve the quality of public education that's available. Certainly, high expectations of every child should be demanded, but we also have to provide the resources for schools to fulfill that goal. Secondly, we've got to address the problem of poverty in our society. 12 million kids grow up in poverty--black, white, Latino, Asian--and we've got to address that problem because ultimately it's a corrosive issue on American society in general. And then third, we've got to ensure diversity for all our kids, and one of the reasons we've got to pursue a diverse society is because if we're gonna successfully compete in the global economy of the 21st century, we've got to learn to work with one another. We've got to draw on the skills of every child in our society, and we can't do that unless we have a diverse public education.
Tavis: I saw a Newsweek poll just the other day that suggested that 68 percent of Americans--not black folk, Americans--68 percent of the folk in America believe that we should increase funding for public schools to 'whatever level it takes' to do something about this public education crisis. It seems to me that if you believe this poll at least, the American people are willing to put their money where their mouth is. And yet I hear people saying all the time that the way to solve the crisis in public education, Wade, is not to throw more money, more money, more money at the problem.
Henderson: Well, let me say this. The Newsweek poll in that regard I thought was very encouraging because it does reflect what I see as a deep belief in the American system which is that every kid deserves a quality education and that public school is the best way to guarantee that education. I think most Americans recognize that if we're going to maintain our quality of living, if we are going to maintain our competitive place in the world economy, we've got to draw on the skills of every child. Because after all, we're becoming a more diverse society. Soon we will be a society that does not have a majority population but rather one that is composed of the populations of blacks, Latinos, whites, Asians, and others that'll make up the broad, diverse body politic. And if we are gonna be competitive, we've got to draw on those skills.
What I think is also encouraging is that we have, at some level, moved beyond the immediate resistance to the problems of race. That is not to say that race is behind us. It certainly isn't. We have many problems as a society we've got to confront. But race is no longer the final arbiter of opportunity in our society as it was when Brown was decided. Today there is a stronger correlation between poverty and the lack of opportunity in our society almost than that of race. That is not to say, however, that you don't find concentrated poverty among African Americans and Hispanics. Certainly you do. And most poor kids also attend poor quality public schools.
Tavis: One could argue--I'm not a cynic here--but one could argue that we're never gonna solve the problem that we have in public education if you're telling me that the problem of education is linked to the problem of poverty which is linked to the issue of racism. If all these things are inextricably tied together, that's a tall order. How will we ever solve this problem?
Henderson: It's a tall order, but you can break the cycle. First of all, if you guarantee that every kid has a quality public education, what that means is the opportunity to advance themselves, to transform their lives is available to everyone. American society is one of the few places in the world where you can literally change the circumstances of your birth by having a strong quality public education and a foundation to build upon. So we can break the chains of poverty.
We have to do a better job, of course, in also providing housing opportunity. Lending programs that help promote home ownership and breaking down of segregated housing patterns will also give kids an opportunity to attend better quality schools. Lastly, we don't have to end racism per se to guarantee that every child in society gets the kind of foundation that we want for our own children. Certainly, it is easier when there's a greater acceptance of the changes that we've seen over the last 50 years. But I think if there's a real commitment, a commitment to put together the kind of program, literally a call to action among the progressive community and among men and women of good will, we can make extraordinary strides, as we have done over the past 50 years.
I guess my last point would be this, Tavis. As we celebrate the anniversary of Brown, we also have to remember that society, of course, does have many imperfections. We need affirmative action, for example, to advance opportunities for all in our society and to guarantee a better distribution of opportunity. But the truth is we would not have needed the Michigan Supreme Court affirmative action decision of last year if Brown had been effectively and successfully implemented when it was first decided 50 years ago. We shouldn't have to make that same mistake, that is, that long delay in the realization of our dreams and goals as Americans.
Tavis: I could ask you another question, but I don't know why, because you seemed to figure out that that's a good note to end it on. I think it is. It is a day of celebration 50 years later. The work continues. But I'm delighted, Wade, as always, to have the chance to talk to you. Thanks for coming on.
Henderson: Thanks, Tavis. I really enjoyed it.
Tavis: It's my pleasure. That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR, and I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching and good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.
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