As The Jim Crow Flies

Now for a quote: “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

That of course is the key finding in the 1954 landmark Brown decision, written by the chief justice, Earl Warren.

Now another definition from Webster’s — actually three synonyms — for chutzpah: Nerve, temerity, gall.

Using it in a sentence: “This chief justice, John Roberts, has a lot chutzpah having the nerve, the temerity, the GALL to claim that Brown supports his ruling against the Seattle and Louisville, Ky., school programs, which aim to promote DEsegregation.

It is true. Affirmative action, which is what this is, favors one race over another, as a factor in the struggle to achieve diversity. We claim as a nation that we support the idea of races and ethnic groups living together.

But the truth is somehow, someway, we are a country where different races, different ethnic groups, are still largely separated. The result is we are lessened.

The best way to improve that is to make damned sure kids in schools break down the barriers that continue to divide by their simple proximity to one another.

But now that this court has ruled it is not allowed to use race to determine who goes to what school, we can look forward to a future where inevitably we will end up with a system in which “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Segregated.

Apparently, the majority of justices has decided that the new “law of the land” does not allow discrimination based on race. Unless, of course, it’s directed at blacks. They are the one who continue to be dumped into those “inherently unequal” schools.

Relying on Brown as justification is not only chutzpah — it’s Orwellian.