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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) commemorated the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, a landmark decision that started the legal process of integrating schools across the nation in a speech on the floor of the United States Senate.

“On this anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, we remember the legacy left behind by Linda Brown and her parents,” said Sen. Moran. “Linda Brown just passed away last year, and we honor her, her family and all those involved in the civil rights movement. This legacy is one which requires all Americans, each of us, to uphold the self-evident truth that all men and women are created equal. Let us remember the legacy of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, and in doing so, I ask every American to commit to racial justice and equal opportunity.”

Earlier this week, Sen. Moran joined the Kansas delegation in introducing a resolution recognizing the 65th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision and its importance to Kansas and our country. 

Click Here to Watch Sen. Moran’s Full Remarks

Remarks as delivered:

“Mr. President, thank you. On the 65th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, I rise to pay tribute to Kansas families, led by the Browns, and all Kansans who took part in challenging the injustice of racial segregation.

“For 60 years leading up to Brown, much of America adhered to the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the doctrine, ‘separate but equal.’ But, when applied to our school buildings and the education of our children, nothing about it was equal.

“In 1951, Linda Carol Brown was in the third grade and she would walk six blocks to a bus stop that would take her to Monroe Elementary more than a mile away from her home. This, despite the fact that Sumner Elementary just was seven blocks from her home. Even after repeated applications for attendance at the neighborhood school, the Browns and other families were rejected because of the color of their skin.

“In that year, 13 parents – led by Linda’s father, Oliver – filed suit against the Topeka Board of Education on behalf of their 20 children. Combining other cases throughout the country, Thurgood Marshall argued on their behalf before the United States Supreme Court; the court that he would later join as a justice.

“On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously issued its landmark decision, announcing Plessy’s ‘separate but equal’ doctrine violated the Fourteenth Amendment. While full integration would take years to accomplish, the events set in motion by these intrepid parents were irreversible, and they are worthy of our respect and honor today.

“Nowhere was this truer than in the city where it all started. Before the case had even reached the Supreme Court, the Topeka Board of Education began integrating its primary schools. 

“Kansas has its pre-Civil War bloodshed to determine whether the territory would enter the union as a free or slave state, and Wichita was home to one of the first sit-ins to integrate drugstore lunch counters, but it is Brown v. Board of Education that is our state’s greatest connection to the nation’s pursuit of racial justice.

“That these events happened in Kansas reflect the imperfect history of our state – and our nation – but also the resolve of individual Kansans and national organizations like NAACP to right wrongs and to make a ‘more perfect union’ that our Constitution contemplates.

“On this anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, we remember the legacy left behind by Linda Brown and her parents. Linda Brown just passed away last year, and we honor her, her family and all those involved in the civil rights movement. This legacy is one which requires all Americans, each of us, to uphold the self-evident truth that all men and women are created equal.

“Let us remember the legacy of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, and in doing so, I ask every American to commit to racial justice and equal opportunity.”

Click here to watch Sen. Moran’s full remarks.
 

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