The historian Charles Payne has describedBrown v. Board of Educationas “a milestone in search of something to signify.” Widely hailed as a symbol of Jim Crow's demise, the case is popularly understood to represent America at its best. For many,Brownsymbolizes the end of segregation, a national condemnation of racism, a renewed commitment to the ideal of color-blind justice, or some combination of all of these, butBrownis equally affirmed in less celebratory narratives, in which it is seen to articulate a constitutional aspiration against which the injustice of current racial practices can be measured. Unlike the celebratoryBrown, which indulges a fantasy of completion or accomplishment, this aspirationalBrownmarks “an appeal to law to make good on its promises” of equal citizenship and racial democracy, even if that promise remains as yet largely unfulfilled.
Beyond Indian Law: The Rehnquist Court’s Pursuit of States’ Rights, Color-Blind Justice, and Mainstream Values