The 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, which banned racial segregation in public schools, we were passed in New York with no formal recognition. Perhaps our officials were embarrassed by the fact that our city has been identified for more than a decade as having the nation's most racially segregated schools while doing little or nothing to execute dozens of acceptable ideas to move toward integration.

School Gathering.Photo byAlexis BrownonUnsplash

It is simple to ignore the prejudice that divides and taints our varied city. While it is true that there is a plethora of languages spoken in the streets and subways, New York has long condoned, supported, and executed policies that force children into racial enclaves. Examples of these policies include requiring standardized test results for 4-year-olds and in-person screening interviews for admission to selective schools.

The division is obvious on maps produced by integrated. The 40 schools in Manhattan's District 3 have a combined enrollment of slightly over 14,000 children, with around 27% white, 24% Black, 35% Latino, and 8% Asian.

There Is No Excuse

This zone encompasses the West Side and a portion of Central Harlem, stretching from 59th Street to 122nd. However, almost a dozen of the schools are predominantly white and Asian, with only a few Black kids, but at least 13 are more than 90% Black and Latino.

There is no excuse for raising our children in mini-monocultures that perpetuate the myth that "those people" are essentially inferior or less deserving than their fellow New Yorkers.