Lecture uncovers truths about desegregation

School desegregation is heralded as one of the most important events leading up to the civil rights movement, but what if its outcomes weren’t entirely positive?

UNLV women’s studies professor Dr. Anita Tijerina Revilla  addressed this question in her Nov. 12 talk for the University Forum Lecture Series, sponsored by the college of liberal arts.

“What happened to those people who lived through it?” Revilla asked, referring to the students who attended the Topeka, Kans. school that was first affected by the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Revilla, along with colleagues Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer Jellison Holme and Awo Korentemaa Atanda used census data, yearbooks, newspaper articles and archival school district documents to study the consequences of school desegregation in six school districts.

The researchers felt the preexisting literature on desegregation was lacking specific elements. Interested in information that transcends short-term outcomes, they sought to find out how the adults who had attended desegregated schools decades ago felt about their experiences.

But obtaining this kind of information proved difficult. “In essence, we don’t have [information from] the students who had the worst experiences,” Revilla admitted. Students whose lives were negatively impacted by desegregation tended to avoid delving into the painful memories of their pasts, refusing to be interviewed.

Nonetheless, a significant number of students and educators responded.

One theme that emerged from the interviews was what Revilla described as “an annihilation of black values in black schools.” Black schools that opened their doors to white students were stripped of all symbols of black students’ accomplishments such as athletic trophies as well as photographs of black educators.

Research showed that white schools that did not previously offer advanced placement and honors classes before desegregation began to do so once black students enrolled. Many black respondents reported that information about these classes was withheld from them. Revilla and her colleagues interpreted this as evidence that even within desegregated schools, students were insulated from one another.

Revilla also pointed out that the schools found it easier to adopt a “colorblind” policy, or render race invisible, than it was to openly discuss different perspectives on race and racism.

She argued that this kind of policy is often employed today as a system of “colorblind meritocracy”-that is, anything one achieves is based solely on how hard he or she worked. When asked by an audience member to elaborate on this concept, Revilla used the following example: “George Bush getting into Yale, he ‘deserved’ that. But if you don’t get into Yale, you don’t [deserve to].”

Revilla applied the results of her research to current issues such as the use of the term “the race card.” She said that discussions of race are being trivialized by the use of that term and that it pressures those who are impacted by racism to remain silent.

In her discussion of race and racism, Revilla pointed out that her use of the term “whiteness” did not apply to all white people, but instead the social construction of whiteness and white privilege.

Concluding, Revilla explained that while contemporary America is not marked by oppressive institutions like slavery, “We live in the legacy.” She maintained that understanding that people’s experiences may differ because of their skin color is of paramount importance.

“I was moved,” student Danielle Tucker said in response to Revilla’s talk.

Judi Brown expressed similar sentiments, saying, “Dr. Revilla has a really remarkable way of explaining incredibly complex issues.”

The content of Revilla’s lecture is part of a forthcoming book, “Both Sides Now: The Story of School Desegregations.”