The Cleveland School District has operated a dual education system for more than 50 years! Although the district has been ordered to desegregate by several federal judges since 1969, nothing substantive ever happened! District officials lack the will or intent to abide by any orders!  Consequently, students are being denied access to an integrated, bias-free public education as guaranteed by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments.

 

This petition is important because public schools should be safe havens for equity, fairness, justice, and integrity in providing quality educational opportunities for all students.  All students deserve the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in integrated environments where their diversity is respected and their unique academic needs are met.  All students deserve to be supported, encouraged, and empowered to achieve at high levels.  All students deserve to be “built up” at school in ways that enhance their full development academically, socially, psychologically, and emotionally.  All students deserve to be equal members of their school community.

 

Cleveland is located in Bolivar County Mississippi in the heart of the Mississippi Delta region of our state.  Bolivar County is home to approximately 33,000 residents, 64% black, 34% white, and 2% other. Bolivar County is plagued by limited economic development, high unemployment, and numerous residents living at or below the poverty level.  Cleveland is the largest city in the Bolivar County with approximately 12,000 residents, 50% black, 48% white, and 2% other.  Cleveland is small enough for most residents can get to know each other by name and large enough to have something to do after work and church. 

 

The Cleveland School District serves about 3,700 students in grades Pre-K through 12.  There are 10 schools in the district, 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools. Two of the elementary schools are magnets, supposedly created and designed to address school segregation in the district. The other 4 elementary schools are primarily neighborhood schools serving students in attendance zones defined by the city’s former railroad tracks, where most black residents live on the east side of the tracks, and most white residents live on the west side of the tracks.  The attendance zones for the 2 middle schools and 2 high schools are also defined by the railroad tracks, where one middle school and one high school are traditionally known as “white schools” located on the west side of the tracks and one middle school and one high school are traditionally known as “black schools” located on the east side of the tracks.

 

Just recently, the school district was ordered yet again to desegregate its schools by a federal court order issued on May 13, 2016, just days before the two high schools’ graduation dates of May 19 and May 20, 2016.  In this opinion and order, Judge Debra M. Brown found that for decades, the district has failed to meet its obligation of eradicating all vestiges of the dual system, thereby operating in bastions of segregation long after other school systems similarly situated nationwide had been declared unitary. “More important and of far greater harm,” opined Judge Brown, “the delay in desegregation has deprived generations of students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an integration education.”

 

In response, the Cleveland School District School Board voted to appeal Judge Brown’s desegregation ruling two days before the appeal deadline in a called meeting advertised to the public as fiscal year-end.  The vote was along racial lines, with the 3 white board members voting to appeal and the 2 black board members voting against the appeal.  Yet again, the district has succeeded in delaying desegregation and justice, thereby depriving students of their right to an integrated public education. 

 

Time, after time, after time – for more than 50 years -- the school district has used the legal system to out-maneuver, evade, circumvent, and outright defy federal law.  Thus, state-sponsored segregation in the Cleveland School District continues to thrive in these 21st century times. The fight for justice, however, must go on for the good of all children today and for the generations to come.  I will stand, affirmed by the words of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, “Justice delayed, is justice denied”, and “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” 

 

I was led to start this petition when the vestiges of the Cleveland School District’s segregated practices and dual system egregiously reared its ugly head in a personal situation involving my youngest daughter Jasmine. It became blazingly apparent to me, that I could no longer turn my head to the “status quo” discrimination that has robbed generations of children of the education, resources, supports, and honors to which they were entitled. I decided to speak up against the discrimination and segregation evident in the system, stand up against the bureaucracies that unjustly support the dual education system in the Cleveland School District, and encourage others to rise up in unity to defeat this enemy that plagues our school system, our city, and our county.  Otherwise, we will remain racially divided and unable to heal up the wounds that have kept us separate.

 

On May 19th, one day before graduation, my daughter Jasmine was name the Co-Valedictorian of the Cleveland High School Class of 2016, the traditional “white school”, along with a white student.  The School has never had co-valedictorians, nor has there ever been a black one in its 110-year history.   The Valedictorian is a meritorious distinction granted to the student with the highest Grade Point Average (GPA).  A shroud of secrecy and lack of transparency caused pause for me, and should for anyone, given the district’s longstanding history.  I was met with resistance from the school and district administration when I attempted to have my concerns addressed surrounding the “Co” classification.  It is my belief that the white student has a lower GPA than my daughter Jasmine.  I feel that my daughter was forced to share the honor she earned outright, in spite of the dual-system obstacles causing her to work three times as hard, because the district prefers and caters to white students.

 

As a proud parent, I served the role of my four daughters’ first and primary teacher.  I played this role for 30 consecutive years in the Cleveland School District.  I visited the school in an effort to partner with them in providing the best education for my girls.  I attended parent meetings, meet the teacher nights, and school open houses.  I eagerly attended my daughters’ school events including Christmas Programs, basketball games, parade performances, band recitals, and academic competitions.  I engaged in their learning, knowing that my daughters’ success in school was dependent upon my advocating on their behalf in a school system set up to stifle their growth and development. As parents, my children’s father and I, have always inspired, motivated, and supported each of our girls to be whatever they wanted to be through discipline and hard work. We modeled high expectations for all four daughters, and we supported them in reaching these expectations.   

 

Although the “glass ceiling” was not referred to as such, our girls were informed and regularly reminded of the obstacles they would have to overcome to succeed in life.  They were taught at an early age that God created them in His image as “winners”; therefore, they were challenged to embody their best in everything and to never quit or give up.  I must say that I have been blessed beyond measure in watching my girls grow and develop into the beautiful young ladies they have become.

 

My daughter Jasmine, the youngest of four siblings, is a typical teenager who has been extremely focused on her studies and career goals from an early age.  When Jasmine graduated from sixth grade, she identified two main goals in framing her secondary school experiences:  1. Jasmine wanted to follow in her sisters’ footsteps by attending the secondary schools they attended and 2.  Jasmine aspired to graduate as Valedictorian of her Senior Class.  Jasmine, at twelve, knew exactly what she wanted to do academically and how she would achieve it.  Jasmine had a dream, an audacious dream, and for the next six years, Jasmine strategically worked diligently to make her dream a reality.

 

Jasmine is an avid reader, and enjoys listening to music, texting, and spending time with her nieces and nephews.  Jasmine rarely ever complains about anything, and is accepting of other people’s positions.  She has always been a self-starter and she is extremely self-directed, particularly with her studies.  In secondary school, Jasmine was a member of the National Junior Honor Society, the National Honor Society, the Journalism Staff, the Drama Club, the Student Council, the Academic Scholar Bowl, Technology Student Association, the Mock Trial Team, and the Wildcat Medics. Jasmine volunteers in the community where needed, and loves helping others with their studies.  Most importantly, Jasmine is a born again Christian, and models Christian principals in her day-to-day relationships with others.  Jasmine aspires to be a doctor and give back in a community that lacks an adequate number of health care providers. I am honored that God chose me to be Jasmine’s Mom!

 

The success of this petition will provide equal educational opportunities for all students in the Cleveland School District, reaffirm "Brown", and send a convincing message to the Cleveland School Board and school officials that discrimination in any form in public education is wrong and will not be tolerated. In addition, this petition offers all students nationwide hope that equity, fairness, and justice eventually prevail. I am urging everyone to join me in standing up for equity in public education in the Cleveland School District in Cleveland, Mississippi, not only for Jasmine, but for all students in Cleveland and public schools everywhere. 

 

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2016), “Every child in America deserves an education that opens opportunities—especially the opportunity to join a thriving middle class.”  These opportunities have yet to be provided for all students in the Cleveland School District, decades after the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.  All students deserve better educational opportunities in these 21st century times!  As Judge Debra M. Brown so eloquently expressed in her recent court order and opinion, “although no court order can right the wrongs” of delaying desegregation and depriving generations of students of the constitutionally-guaranteed right of an integrated education, “it is the duty of the [Cleveland School] District to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.”

 

It is my hope that the following will occur as a result of this petition: 1.  All students in the Cleveland School District will be provided a high-quality, equitable, integrated public education in line with federal law and Judge Debra M. Brown’s Order and Opinion. 2.  No child in the Cleveland School District will be discriminated against in any form in public education, particularly due to race or color. 3.  Jasmine is declared the sole valedictorian of the Cleveland High School Class of 2016. 4.  The Cleveland Community will engage in healthy dialogue regarding race relations, effective collaboration, and developing a top-notched education system in the Cleveland School District according to Judge Debra M. Brown’s Order and Opinion.  

 

Let's send a convincing message throughout our country and the world that segregation and discrimination is wrong and will not be tolerated anywhere! An investment in education is an investment in our future, and the future of the generations to come!