The New York Times’ podcast series ā€œNice White Parentsā€ may leave listeners convinced that school integration is a failed experiment, doomed by insincere White liberals and no longer desired by many Black families. But in (TCF), ¶¶Ņõapp alumna Michelle Burris (M.A. ’19) and co-author Stefan Lallinger argue that, in today’s ā€œmulticultural, pluralistic society, in which K–12 White students are no longer a majority of American students, both the opportunity and the need to get it right have never been greater.ā€

Michelle Burris

HIGHLIGHTING ā€œTHE NEED TO GET IT RIGHTā€ Burris believes integration is essential in ā€œa multicultural, pluralistic society.ā€ (Photo courtesy Century Foundation)

Burris, TCF Senior Policy Fellow and a graduate of TC’s Politics & Education program, and Lallinger, Fellow and Director of TCF’s Bridges Collaborative, acknowledge a common refrain in many Black communities of ā€œGive us equal resources and leave us alone.ā€ But ā€œthese arguments are in large part a retort to decades of desegregation done wrong, which often debased and devalued Black pedagogy, curriculum, and personnel,ā€ they write. ā€œMoreover, there are few, if any, examples of public, segregated Black or low-income schools that receive equal resources (inclusive of facilities, money, equipment, human capital) as their white or more affluent counterparts.ā€

School integration does work, and when done well, is one of the best tools we have to ensure a high-quality education for all Americans.

—Michelle Burris (M.A. '19) and Stefan Lallinger

Citing evidence that integration efforts are alive and well nationwide ā€” including in Minneapolis, scene of last spring’s police killing of George Floyd ā€” Burris and Lallinger invoke Martin Luther King’s assertion that ā€œintegration is the positive acceptance of desegregation and the welcomed participation of Negroes into the total range of human activities.ā€ They conclude: ā€œSchool integration does work, and when done well, is one of the best tools we have to ensure a high-quality education for all&²Ō²ś²õ±č;“”³¾±š°ł¾±³¦²¹²Ō²õ.ā€

[Read a profile of Burris and watch a video clip of her from ¶¶Ņõapp’s 2019 Graduates Gallery.]