What's Mine and Yours

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that public facilities such as schools, parks, and transportation, could be segregated. It set the precedent of “separate but equal,” which became standard in the United States and exacerbated the large discrepancies in funding between schools intended for white students and schools intended for students of color. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education is sometimes seen as the beginning of the civil rights movement, as it led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation and discrimination based on race in public facilities and with regard to voting rights. Efforts to desegregate schools have been ongoing ever since, often complicated by cultural biases and how districting and educational funding operate in the United States.

The benefits of diversity in the classroom are well-documented. In addition to promoting tolerance and inclusion, studies show that children feel safer when their peer group is diverse: “Youths who reported [cross-ethnic] friendships felt less vulnerable—less lonely, less victimized by peers, and safer at school” (“Cross-ethnic friendships in urban middle schools make youths feel less vulnerable, safer.” Child Development. 24 Sept. 2013.) However, there is still an imbalance in racial diversity within schools. A study from 2017, written by John R. Logan and Julia Burdick-Will, showed a general lack of true diversity within schools in various regions; for example, white students “constitute just over half of overall elementary enrollment, but less than a third of urban enrollment while a clear majority of suburban children (nearly 60%) and an even larger share of rural children (71%)” while “Black students are most likely to be found in urban schools (where almost half of them attend school), but they are almost equally under-represented in suburban and rural schools,” and Indigenous American students are under-represented in general (School Segregation and Disparities in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas. Logan and Burdick-Will. 25 Oct. 2017). Ensuring diversity in public schools continues to be an issue in many school districts.

In this novel, 200 students are transferred between a majority white school and a more diverse school. This attempt at integration causes tension among the parents that leads to racist graffiti and violence. These events take place in 2002, nearly 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, demonstrating the ongoing racial tensions within the United States and the continued need for diversity activism.