In many ways, the events of those years seemed long ago. We tend to think of them as the distant dramas of a different country. Yet, segregation is a living memory, and many still carry its scars. The habits of racism in America have not all been broken. The habits of respect must be taught to every generation. Laws against racial discrimination must be vigorously enforced in education and housing and hiring and public accommodations. Many African Americans with no inheritance but their character need access to capital and the chance to own and build for the future. And while our schools are no longer segregated by law, they are still not equal in opportunity and excellence. Justice requires more than a place in a school. Justice requires that every school teach every child in America. (Applause.)
America has yet to reach the high calling of its own ideals. Yet we're a nation that strives to do right. And we honor those who expose our failures, correct our course, and make us a better people. On this day, in this place, we remember with gratitude the good souls who saw a great wrong, and stood their ground, and won their case. And we celebrate a milestone in the history of our glorious nation.
Thank you for having me. May God bless America. (Applause.)
| That's the last of President Bush's "President Speaks at Brown v Board of Education Nat'l Historic Site: Remarks by the President at Grand Opening of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Site, Topeka, Kansas"
In 1954, in Topeka, there were 18 neighborhood schools for white children and just four “black only” elementary schools. Oliver Brown thought it was wrong that his seven-year-old daughter, Linda and her friends had to walk a mile through a railroad yard every day just to catch a bus to their segregated elementary school. The trip took more than an hour, and on the way, Linda walked right past the closed doors of a white elementary school just 3 blocks from her house. It was separate -- but it was not equal. The Supreme Court agreed and that decision became a turning point in America’s long march toward equality.
Although the journey here isn’t finished, Topeka, has been transformed these fifty years. We are joined here today by Topeka’s first African American Mayor, James McClinton. And isn’t it a measure of the progress we’ve made that Topeka has a school superintendent who 50 years ago couldn’t have walked the halls of many schools in this city? Today, Tony Sawyer is not only walking the halls, he is commanding the corridors of power of the Topeka school system.
All of America is a better place because of Brown. Back then, only four percent of African Americans had college degrees. Today, nearly twenty percent are college graduates. But we have more to do.
In the 1950s, there were less than 200 black elected officials in all of America, and even fewer Hispanic Americans. Now there are more than 14,000 -- including the 59 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus. But we have more to do.
There were no African Americans on the big corporate boards back then. Today, more than forty percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have black directors, and nearly fifteen percent have Latino directors. But we have more to do.
| That's just part of "Remarks by John Kerry on Brown Anniversary" at the Massachusetts senator's presidential campaign site
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