Last month marked the 50th anniversary of a Supreme Court case originating in Detroit that’s had a lasting impact on equity in schools, both locally and nationwide.

The Milliken v. Bradley decision limited the courts’ ability to address segregation in schools by halting an “interdistrict busing” plan to tackle Detroit’s increasingly segregated classrooms. Under the plan, students from Detroit would have been bused into the suburbs and kids from the suburbs would have been bused to Detroit schools.

Legal scholars say the 1974 ruling eroded the progress of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared racial segregation in the classroom unconstitutional. After that ruling, districts across the country were experimenting with ways to integrate schools. 

The Milliken v. Bradley case originated when the NAACP filed a lawsuit against Michigan state officials on behalf of students and their families, arguing that school integration in Detroit could never occur where discriminatory practices like redlining and racial covenants are present. 

While the lower court ruling said the city, state and surrounding suburbs must comply and participate in a desegregation plan, the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a narrow 5-4 decision signaled that the courts shouldn’t be involved in efforts to desegregate schools. 

Today on Created Equal, host Stephen Henderson was joined by three guests — Chalkbeat Detroit reporter Robyn Vincent, Detroit historian Ken Coleman, and Education Trust-Midwest Executive Director Amber Arellano — to talk about the Milliken ruling and its ripple effect on the Detroit public school system today.

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Guests

Robyn Vincent, education reporter for Chalkbeat Detroit, wrote a recent article entitled “Still segregated and unequal: The reverberations of Milliken v. Bradley in Detroit 50 years later.” Vincent says Detroit schools are not equitably funded in comparison to other districts.

“That became especially true with the adoption of Proposal A back in the ’90s, now that education policy is unequal in how much funding different school districts receive per student, and meanwhile we know Detroit schools serve a lot of kids from low-income households,” she said. “Nearly 80% qualify for subsidized lunches, so that tells us something.”

Ken Coleman is a Detroit historian and journalist. He says although Detroit’s Black population was growing, large swaths of the city had very few African American students up until the time of Milliken v. Bradley, and there was a clear correlation between segregation in schools and segregation in housing.

“There are lots of neighborhoods where Black kids don’t go to school with white kids because of race discrimination that was carried out in the real estate industry, and even pushback in city neighborhoods throughout the ‘40s and ’50s and ‘60s,” he said.

Amber Arellano is the executive director of Education Trust-Midwest. Arellano discussed how there have been a lot of changes within the past two years when it comes to schools being more equitable. She also talks about the recent funding mechanism that accounts for the concentration of poverty, which made history in Michigan.

“We are one of the first 10 states in the country to do this,” said Arellano. “It is an acknowledgment that we have had one of the most regressive and most inequitable state funding systems in the country, and in just two years, it’s driven almost $300 million more into schools for students with low-income background,” she said. It is really an important statewide change.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

The I-375 Reconnecting Communities project is an attempt to repair the wrongs that were done when construction of the freeway began in 1954. Voices across metro Detroit continue to weigh in on the current plans, and how much they come up short.

On this episode of Created Equal, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans joined the show to discuss where current plans stand, and how these decisions will shape the future of I-375.

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When it comes to projects like I-375 Reconnecting Communities — and getting the community involved with the help of the county — Evans describes it as a chore. Building facilities like the criminal justice complex was a significant outreach to the community, but at the same time, he believes intentions of the project to “right the wrongs of the past” are insulting.

“There was nothing definitive in there that would make any reasonable person think that anything was going to be done for the purpose of repairing the past,” said Evans. “You repair the past by doing things that make for opportunities for people of color whose community was destroyed 60 or 50 years ago, and I don’t see it as much different now. I have not been deep enough in the project to determine whether the practical aspects of raising 375 or not make sense.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Many older adults want to stay in their homes as they age. But aging in place requires careful consideration and planning by the individual and/or their family.

Making this decision can be difficult for families as they navigate the logistics and challenges that come with an older loved one aging in place and ensuring both financial stability and the person’s safety and well-being.

Today on Created Equal, Wayne State University gerontology professor Amanda Leggett joined the show to discuss what it takes to be ready – from a number of perspectives – for the difficulties that come with aging and aging in place.

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Guest:

Amanda Leggett is an assistant professor in the Institute of Gerontology and Department of Psychology at Wayne State University and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. Her research program focuses on the dementia caregiver stress process and mental health in late-life. 

Leggett spoke about the importance of being able to handle the basic activities of daily life, such as managing finances and basic mobility, and how some symptoms of aging can make it difficult for some older adults to manage those tasks independently. 

“When individuals start to need more assistance in managing these activities, that’s kind of when we start to think about, ‘is this something that the family can help with, or an in-home care aid might be able to help with? Or do we want to start thinking about that transition to a long-term care facility? And I think a big piece of this also really just boils down to safety, we want to make sure that if someone is independent in their home that they are safe,” said Leggett.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.