A ruling that could change public education forever: Gretchen Whitmer must settle the Gary B. case

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stands on stage at an event where General Motors announced that GMs Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant will build the all-electric Cruise Origin self-driving shuttle on January 27, 2020 in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stands on stage at an event where General Motors announced that GMs Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant will build the all-electric Cruise Origin self-driving shuttle on January 27, 2020 in Hamtramck, Michigan.(Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

On April 23, amid an unprecedented health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a landmark decision, ruling that an education that at least guarantees a basic right to literacy is a fundamental right. All who care about public education in America should be laser-focused on the outcome of Gary B. vs. Whitmer.
The court remanded the case, which was originally filed in 2016 by seven Detroit students against Michigan state officials, to District Court for a remedy, stating that education “is essential to nearly every interaction between a citizen and her government. Education has long been viewed as a great equalizer, giving all children a chance to meet or outperform society’s expectations, even when faced with substantial disparities in wealth and with past and ongoing racial inequality.”
The ruling provides an opportunity to fulfill the unfinished business set in motion by the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump rightly referred to the case as “Brown v. Board of Education of our lifetimes — the chance to change the life trajectory of countless underprivileged black and brown children.”
However, without Michigan’s governor and named co-defendant, Gretchen Whitmer, moving within the next few days to settle, which as a candidate she signaled she would, the case could be at risk.
The country has come to know Whitmer as she’s given and garnered much attention for her response to the coronavirus pandemic. But it is Whitmer’s response to settle this case that Crump correctly calls her “appointment with destiny, a choice that will define her place in history.”
The inequities manifested in Detroit by coronavirus come as no surprise to residents of Detroit, who have for decades faced unequaled and unjust exposures to polluting-facilities, discriminatory lending/housing practices, inadequate health care and water-shutoffs. Moreover, Detroiters have experienced defunding of its K-12 public schools while under state control.
Astonishingly, current state policy allows public funding, which should go to Detroit schools, to be diverted to wealthy developers. Detroiters have long cried out, protested and even litigated in hopes for an end to discriminatory policies and practices, which perpetuate such inequities. But it took until the Gary B. case for courts to truly challenge the status quo.
Attorneys for the “right to literacy” plaintiffs argue that without an education that guarantees the ability to read and write as a basic right, many Detroiters are unable to participate fairly in society and the economy. Thus, many wind up forced to work jobs or live in conditions that place them at greater risk especially during the crisis — working at grocery store or a fast-food restaurant, incarcerated due to prison-to-school pipeline.
As stated by Yvonne White, president of Michigan NAACP, “the ruling sets the stage for Gov. Whitmer to make a lasting mark on Michigan and even the scales of justice for hundreds of thousands of children of color who don’t stand a chance of succeeding without a decent education.”
While Whitmer, rightfully, attends to the ongoing health and economic fallout caused by Coronavirus, many are watching and expecting a response that doesn’t myopically ignore the cries of our children, our forefathers, and, now, the courts to address inequities that disrupt the future and full potential of our children and devastate communities like Detroit, especially in this time of a pandemic.

2 comments:

  1. How can you say the ability to read and write is a basic right? You might as well declare the ability to fly a basic right: but will anybody be able to fly? Blacks who don't read and don't write and they can only blame themselves and their genes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no idea what whoever wrote this article is saying because the writer keeps going off on tangents about the other things the evil witch governor is doing. Can't you come to the point? I gave up midway through.

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