Legacy of Brown Decision
* Re “Desegregation Decision’s True Legacy,” Column Right, May 19: I am amazed The Times would print Paul Craig Roberts’ racist diatribe, disguised as a legal argument. If any case represents strict interpretation of the 14th Amendment it is Brown vs. Board of Education.
The 14th Amendment provides, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States . . . nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The 15th Amendment provides, “The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Does Roberts really believe state-mandated racial segregation, or denial of equal public education, gives black citizens “equal protection” or does not “abridge their privileges”? He should recall that civil and voting rights legislation were acts of a duly elected Congress, not judicial fiat.
When he pledges allegiance to the flag of “one nation . . . with liberty and justice for all,” does he believe it is American, moral or just to allow states to deny black citizens the right to schooling, riding the bus, voting or using public restrooms?
SAMUEL SALKIN
San Clemente
*
If the liberal elite and, by implication, black people are somehow “impatient with democracy,” how long does Roberts suggest we wait for it to come?
DARRELL K. BROWN
Los Angeles
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