The kids get it. One of my students said, "I think I know why there were laws that made life for white people better. I think it is because all of the people in the court were white."
My kids see our school as integrated because there are many shades of black and brown. But we're still not there at all. Here's a great story from Village Voice, Inside a Divided Upper East Side School.
If you're a white student and you arrive at the public elementary school building on 95th Street and Third Avenue, you'll probably walk through the front door. If you're a black student, you'll probably come in through the back.
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I'm not going to defend discriminatory policies, but saying, "The kids get it," when they say that courts made life for white people better simply because they were also white is a problem.
I'm sure some courts did, but this seems like an over-simplified analysis which you seem to be just fine letting the students believe is complete.
Surely your students would benefit from a more nuanced analysis, and from the knowledge that people (even discriminatory judges) are more complex than single-mindedly race-driven.
My students are second grade special education and I thought that was a pretty advanced comment for them. No analysis is complete, but I do agree with them.
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