Civil Rights Violations in Special Education: Eliminating Educational Zones of Resegregation

• In Event: Part 1: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Urban Education: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Abstract

The landmark decision of Brown v Board of Education (1954) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided Communities of Color the hope and promise of desegregated public schools. Derailing progress are practices, policies, and research that subversively impose new and contemporary forms of segregation. One such way that this happens is through the special education system. In the United States, special education continues to segregate Students of Color, removing them from the general education system and into a separate and inequitable system that results in deleterious consequences, a process we refer to as resegregation in special education. We argue that resegregation practices, including zones of resegregation, are a clear violation of the equal protections clause under the 14th amendment and the principles articulated in Brown v Board of Education (1954) and Civil Rights Act of 1964, thereby denying Students of Color racial justice in education, including their civil rights. To ensure these rights, a transformative version of special education is needed that addresses resegregation, moving on from a more traditional [current] version, steeped in racist practices. Therefore, we explore the question: How can the field of education end resegregation practices in special education for Black students (and others of Color) to advance the civil rights established in the 1954 Brown versus the Board of Education decision and Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Authors

• Nicholas S. Bell, University of Connecticut

• David J. Connor, Hunter College - CUNY