Evanston, Illinois (July 20, 2021): The lawsuit filed this month against D65 deals directly with facts and actions. The claims raised by the lawsuit, which document specific incidents and elements of mandatory programming used by the school district for teachers and students, outlines a deliberate effort by an arm of the government – the public school system – to specifically use skin color and ethnicity as bright line factors for separating students and teachers.
The lawsuit relies on well-settled constitutional principles and case law precedent that have protected Americans of all skin colors over the past seven decades against the government’s use of race and ethnicity as key factors for its programs. Since the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, racial segregation and government use of skin color as a determining factor for public education benefits have been rightly struck down as unconstitutional in case after case. As a nation, we have reformed and strengthened the constitutional commitment to equal protection under the law, and the highest courts in the land have repeatedly reaffirmed this guarantee of equal protection – particularly with regard to immutable and protected class characteristics like skin color. Desegregation was so important that it even required National Guard troops in some states to ensure that the constitutional guarantees were protected.
As the lawsuit moves forward, there will continue to be opportunities for millions of parents and students – regardless of skin color – to debate and speak out. What should be rejected by Americans of every persuasion are actions by government, including our public schools, to divide and deride based on race. Any effort to intimidate or otherwise harass those who have the courage to step forward to challenge these programs in court further reveals the ideological ambitions of those who enact and mandate unconstitutional programs designed to re-segregate our schools and, by extension, our republic.