The Enduring Hope*

Our public schools are increasingly segregated for Latino students, according to a recent Pew Hispanic Center report. So I'm not sure what to make of this new stamp.

As Hispanic Heritage Month begins (tomorrow), the U.S. postal service commemorates the 1945 Mendez v. Westminster case, which successfully challenged the school segregation of Mexican children in four California districts. Great video on the Mendez case here. In short, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of 5,000 Mexican-American children, Sylvia Mendez among them, who were denied entry into all-white elementary schools. The district court ruled in favor of Mendez, the decision was appealed and two years later upheld. The 1947 ruling stated that it was discriminatory and unconstitutional to send children of Mexican descent to separate schools. Many folks don't know that this case laid the groundwork for Brown vs. Board of Education seven years later.

I want to be happy about this stamp-- Mendez case deserves its props--but I can't help but think what a sad coincidence it is that we are commemorating desegregation efforts amidst reports about how segregated our schools still are, particularly for Latinos, and on the heels of the 5-4 Supreme Court decision to strike down school desegregation plans in Seattle and Louisville. Maybe it is a call to reflect in a "lest we forget" or "at least we tried- didn't we?" way. Either way, it's a sobering reminder that this isn't over, even if we want it to be.

*in Justice Kennedy's opinion, that race should not matter but too often does.