Letters to the editor

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Oct 19, 2008

This property should simply be referred to as "one of the schools named in the Brown case" so as not to negate the significance of the NAACP accomplishment or to suggest that an individual plaintiff had a greater role than the group. Nine of the local school buildings involved in Brown are still standing; four are still functioning schools.

This was not a case about one man (Oliver Brown) and his daughter. It was a century-old campaign undertaken by the NAACP. Oliver Brown's role wasn't unique, nor should it be set apart. Because so many of the people involved made immense personal sacrifices, it is unconscionable for the media to fixate on one.

Such selective reporting diminishes our pride in the legacy of this collective effort challenging injustice. Before Brown, two cases were filed in Topeka. However, the fight for educational equality began in 1881 with the Kansas Supreme Court case of Tinnon v. Ottawa School Board. Numerous cases against the Kansas elementary school law were filed between 1881 and 1949.

Finally, Topeka Branch NAACP president McKinley Burnett drew a line in the sand. From 1948 until 1950, Mr. Burnett attended school board meetings expressing the desire of African-Americans to have elementary schools desegregated. When his approach failed, he turned to the courts.

Mr. Burnett and Lucinda Todd, along with attorneys Charles Scott, John Scott and Charles Bledsoe, led the NAACP in filing a lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education. Their case was a class- action suit, requiring a group of plaintiffs -- 13 parents comprised the roster, representing a total of 20 children.

The media has yet to demonstrate an understanding of this collective effort by acknowledging the Topeka NAACP for its vision and courage as an organization. The facts are well-documented and now interpreted at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, located in an old building significant because it was one of the 12 schools cited in the NAACP case.

Please help -- not hurt -- our mission to reveal the names, faces, places and collective effort that brought about this historic milestone.

LEOLA BROWN MONTGOMERY, LINDA BROWN THOMPSON, TERRY BROWN TYLER and CHERYL BROWN HENDERSON, (family of the late Oliver L. Brown)Topeka

D.A. choice simple

Recent news about the rise of violent crime in our state and in Shawnee County has reinforced my belief that we must have an experienced prosecutor as our district attorney. In this race, only one candidate has the experience necessary to work with our sheriff and police departments to make our city and county safe. That is Eric Rucker.

LEONARD KNUDTSON,Topeka

Listen to both sides

I wish to respond to the letters from Josephine Harkness and Kimberly Williams on Oct. 6. I believe they both need more information.

Much of what I have heard indicates that most of our financial problems are the result of President Clinton, and others of his party, pushing for loans to low-income families who probably should have continued renting until they could actually afford a home loan.