Legal Expert Talking School Resegregation and More
Schools across the country and especially in the South are resegregating, according to several recent studies. Mark Dorosin, managing attorney for the University of North Carolina School of Law Center for Civil Rights, along with other presenters, will address this trend and more in Birmingham today.
WBHM’s Sherrel Wheeler Stewart spoke with Dorosin. Listen to their conversation above or read some key excerpts below.
Changing Demographics of Schools in the South
“We’re seeing in North Carolina and throughout the South a growing and a troubling trend of resegregation, racial isolation, and the concentration of low-wealth students. What we have seen over the last 20 years is the federal courts and the federal government have really withdrawn from pushing for and continuing to promote desegregation. So we have seen school systems return to racial and socio-economically isolated student bodies.”
The Impact of Resegregation
“Anybody who is concerned about the quality of education our students are receiving in schools should be concerned. Well-documented research shows that when schools lack diverse student bodies and when they are segregated, they are less able to provide the full range of benefits that a K-12 education ought to include.”
Potential Challenges, Potential Remedies
“There are avenues legally and through advocacy to be pursued. The courts have become less friendly to civil rights claims, and particularly claims around segregation in education. In order to make a claim, you have to prove intentional discrimination. The courts have not completely closed the window. School districts can make race-conscious decisions. School boards can take race generally into account in school assignments or when deciding where to build a school. The challenge for advocates is to demand that schools boards make the issue of diversity a priority.”
This discussion will be part of Fulfilling the Promise of Brown at the North Birmingham Public Library (2501 31st Avenue North) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. A town-hall-style conversation is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Under Trump, the Federal Trade Commission is abandoning its ban on noncompetes
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson has called his agency's rule banning noncompetes unconstitutional. Still, he says protecting workers against noncompetes remains a priority.
Anthropic to pay authors $1.5B to settle lawsuit over pirated chatbot training material
The artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay authors $3,000 per book in a landmark settlement over pirated chatbot training material.
You can trust the jobs report, Labor Department workers urge public
A strongly-worded statement from Bureau of Labor Statistics workers comes a month after President Trump attacked the integrity of the jobs numbers they release monthly.
Headed to the FBI, Missouri’s Andrew Bailey opposed abortion, backed Trump
Andrew Bailey rose quickly to be state attorney general of Missouri where he built a record for fighting abortion and defending Donald Trump. Now he's a co-deputy director of the FBI.
How Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans are reacting to Trump’s National Guard threats
Even after a federal court ruled his use of the National Guard in LA was illegal, the president has weighed sending troops to Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans. Here's where things stand in those cities.
Watching a neighbor’s cat turns lethal in ‘Caught Stealing’
Darren Aronofsky's film is a funny, bloody valentine to 1990s New York City. Though awfully engrossing, Caught Stealing's mix of rambunctious slapstick and bone-crunching violence doesn't always gel.