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RCBVI
REPRESENTED AT BROWN VS
BOARD OF EDUCATION DEDICATION By Michael Byington, Rehabilitation Support Worker |
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May 17th,
2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court
decision in Brown vs Topeka Board of Education. On this date, President
George W. Bush joined Cheryl Brown-Henderson, daughter of the lead
student which brought about the litigation, and C.E.O. of the Brown
Foundation, as well as countless other local, State and National dignitaries,
in the dedication of a National Historic Park site in Topeka commemorating
the event. The renovated site includes and surrounds the former Monroe
School, which was one of the segregated all African-American schools
in Topeka prior to the Brown decision. (Picture of President George W. Bush addressing assembled guests at the dedication of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education Historic Site) May 17th, 2004 marked the 50th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown vs Topeka Board of Education. On this date, President George W. Bush joined Cheryl Brown-Henderson, daughter of the lead student which brought about the litigation, and C.E.O. of the Brown Foundation, as well as countless other local, State and National dignitaries, in the dedication of a National Historic Park site in Topeka commemorating the event. The renovated site includes and surrounds the former Monroe School, which was one of the segregated all African-American schools in Topeka prior to the Brown decision. The national and local mainstream press has done a good job of recording the facts connected with this event. Many followers of civil rights law in Kansas, however, are unaware of the strong connection between the Brown case and the community of blind citizens in Topeka. This article will provide a little information about that connection, and explain how this lead to RCBVI clients and staff participating in the dedication. Many of the historical references unearthed by the press surrounding the Brown dedication event related to the 13 local litigants who were actually the named plaintiffs in the case. Before the identification of the litigants, however, there was a committee of approximately eight African-American leaders in the Topeka community who were involved with local NAACP (then National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) activities. This was the group which worked to interest the National NAACP leadership in selecting Topeka as a lead case for the national effort. Among the original committee members was a totally blind Topekan, Samuel P. Wilson. Mr. Wilson, who is now deceased, was the first blind, African-American in Kansas to graduate from an accredited four year college. He had a Bachelor's in Education from Emporia State University. As a young, visually impaired person interested in disability rights advocacy, I benefitted from Mr. Wilson's mentorship during my early professional years, and his retirement ones. Of his involvement with getting the Brown case started, I recall Mr. Wilson's telling me the following, "The eight or so of us who really got things started were all part of stable families, and we were all employed. We were tax payers and we thought that we should get the same bang for our buck as other tax payers. Separate but equal, represented by the segregation of the schools, just was not getting it done. I may have had the degree in teaching from Emporia State University, but as a blind, black man, the double discrimination which was going on at the time never allowed me to get anywhere close to being employed to teach in a classroom. I did, however, always manage to have a job of some kind, and maybe the college experience helped with that. I used my education, however, to help articulate the civil rights message, and to get things organized. It may be that, along with my having stable employment which got me into a sort of a leadership role, or it may simply be that I had the biggest dining room table in the neighborhood, so my house was a good place to meet." One of the projects I have taken on as a relatively new RCBVI employee is to publish and circulate a community events calendar from time to time containing events which clients at our facility may wish to attend. This encourages the people who are studying at the RCBVI, many of whom are newly blind or visually impaired, to continue to involve themselves in community events. Clients often select events on the calendar and attend them totally independent of RCBVI staff, but occasionally, clients and staff plan participation in events together. I am often hitting up other RCBVI staff for ideas of things which should go on "the calendar." I was very pleased when Dorris Harris of our staff provided me with the registration details for attending the Brown event and suggested that this should be on the calendar. Two of our current clients, Mr. Steve Caffey and Mr. Melvin Ellison, expressed interest in attending the event, and arrangements were made for these gentlemen to return early from our facility's spring break in order to attend. A former RCBVI client, Mr. Tom Roth, who is now employed at the Kansas State Library in our Kansas Capitol, also learned of our planned participation in the event. He was planning to attend as well and asked if he might join our party. The advanced registration and security clearance procedures required to attend an event including the President and other figures of national prominence turned out to be a little complex, but we got through them with no problems. The only confusion related to a question I posed to the National Parks and Secret Service contingencies a few days prior to the event. A long list of items which could be brought to the event, and items which could not be brought, was published. White canes used by blind citizens, and other types of walkers and canes were not on either the permitted or prohibited lists. I called to inform the security folks that everyone in our delegation is legally blind, and that some of us would be carrying white canes. "Golly, we never thought about things like that," the federal functionary told me. "Can't those blind folks just bring their dogs?" she asked.  (Picture of Melvin Ellison (left) and Steve Caffey (Right) traveling with their white canes through the parking lot at the Kansas Expo Center to board chartered buses in order to attend the Brown VS Topeka Board of Education Historic Site Dedication events) "We already got clearance for service dogs and besides of course the drug dogs and bomb dogs will be there." I explained to her that all persons who are blind, and certainly most newly blind people, do not always have dogs. Some use white canes or unique visual aids equipment such as the bioptic equipment which I use. While the federal representative may not have been informed about such things, she was courteous and efficient. Later on the day of my call, a press release was circulated expanding the list of permitted items which could be brought to include canes, walkers, and other assistive devices for people who have disabilities. On the morning of the event, Mr. Caffey, Mr. Ellison and I took a taxi from the RCBVI to a mustering point at the Kansas Expo Center where we were to clear the first security and take a chartered bus to the event. The fourth member of our Party, Mr. Roth, was either going to try to meet us at the point or at the event itself. We had brought cellular telephones so we could triangulate each other's position and attempt to get together.  (Picture of Steve Caffey and Melvin Ellison seated in the VIP section, along with several other attendees who have disabilities. They are waiting for the event to begin while other VIPs are ushered in to fill seats around them) The mustering point was a bit confusing because groups were being separated into VIPs for the Brown event, general public for the Brown event, and general public for the John Kerry event going on during the same morning at the Capitol downtown. Each group had its own set of reserved chartered buses. By asking questions of several volunteer staff at the mustering point, we were able to travel from where the taxi let us out to get in the right line for the general public buses going to the Brown event. After enjoying travel through a group of barriers which reminded us of cattle runs, we made it onto a bus and got to the event. We learned from our cellular contacts that Mr. Roth was about three buses ahead of us. Once at the dedication site, or as near to it as our bus could get, we got in line with the rest of the general public attendees and were slowly moving toward the on-site security check point. We had not been in this line very long before a volunteer came by and informed us that arrangements had been made for people who have disabilities to sit closer to the event in the VIP section. She asked if we were interested. There are doubtlessly some disadvantages to losing vision or acquiring other disabilities, but as Mr. Caffey, Mr. Ellison and I quickly agreed, there are sometimes also a few trade offs to compensate for the inconveniences. We did not deliberate too long about getting to go to the VIP section based on the circumstance of having disabilities. We just said "Thank you" and went. Following the volunteer who had offered to assist us, we migrated rather quickly past quite a number of lines and ended up in some considerably shorter ones. Our assistive devices, and ourselves, both cleared the VIP security check point with little difficulty and we were taken to a seating section over which former Topeka Mayor, Butch Felker, had jurisdiction. Mr. Felker seated us, and then we began a rather long wait for anything of substance to happen. These events always take a while to come together before anything actually takes place. Mr. Roth had not found a helpful volunteer as we had. He had cleared public security, and this meant that he was not being permitted to join us in the VIP section. He is just as visually impaired as the rest of us, but as he was traveling alone, apparently no one realized this. I called former Mayor Felker over and explained the situation. He made some calls on his walkie-talkie, and got another security volunteer to work with us. Mr. Roth had to exit the event, get back into the VIP security line and clear security again, but he then was permitted to come into the VIP section and sit with us. The event itself was covered comprehensively by the national and local press. I will thus not recount what each of the speaker said, or how very long it took them to say it. The important thing to the four of us was being there and getting to carry on the legacy which had been started so long ago by Mr. Wilson and his associates. The event was also an opportunity, however, to remind local and national politicians that people who are blind and visually impaired, or who have other disabilities, are also members of minority groups, and that we have expectations also that our civil rights will be observed and honored. From the perspective of this aspect of our mission, our seating at the entrance to the VIP section was opportune. We were able to greet quite a large number of local, and a few national politicians as they passed into their seats. Mr. Caffey stated the following of the event and the experience, "It was a chance to be part of history in the making. It seemed important to be there, and it was a very informative and well conducted event. It was particularly important to me to attend because I had heard from staff members here at the RCBVI about how one of the originators of the action was a blind man. I think we need to not lose track of that connection. I also observed that the message throughout the event is that civil rights progress in the United States is a work in progress. We have not achieved everything we need to achieve yet. That is a message I very deeply believe. Mr. Ellison added, "Brown was really a start of a movement. Without it, a lot of other progress, probably including the Civil Rights Act itself, would not have happened." Mr. Ellison is very aware of the discrimination which was taking place in the Midwest during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Mr. Ellison served his country in the United States Army, and he was a successful contractor prior to retirement and the loss of his vision. He was, however, the first African-American to purchase a home in a non-integrated, formerly all-white area of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At the RCBVI, as well as studying the techniques of living with low vision, Mr. Ellison is taking a writing course at Washburn University and he has been working on a novella which he titles, "The Purchase," which is about his experiences in being on the leading edge of confronting discrimination in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, much as the Browns and their associates were confronting it in Topeka, Kansas. Mr. Caffey noted also, "Attending this event, and getting to see some of the work Melvin (Mr. Ellison) is doing, has also made me become more interested in writing, and I have started working on some writing of his experiences as well." Mr. Caffey is planning to attend college subsequent to his training at the RCBVI. Prior to the loss of most of his vision, he had been employed as a mechanic. |
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