Fifty-four years after Brown v. Board of Education, a lot of American schools are still segregated. The Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine for public education, but it did not strike down the practice. Fifty-four years ago, Linda Brown, a black third-grader, refused to walk a mile across a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school.

But today, many black students have to walk miles across railroad switchyards, past “shotgun” shacks and drug dealers, just to get to school.

Legal segregation resulted in the isolation of blacks into communities that were denied many social services. As a result, many blacks found themselves in places with poor job training opportunities, poor education, few role models and an environment that encouraged crime.

Half a century later, many blacks still find themselves in similar surroundings. Inner-city areas are often more than 90 percent blacks, while the suburbs are often more than 90 percent whites. This simply means that not enough has been done to desegregate America.

It took conscious, deliberate laws to segregate America; therefore the desegregation of America requires conscious, deliberate laws as well.

Segregation laws deliberately slit the fabric of the black community, crippling it so it would always be inferior to its white counterparts.

Affirmative action laws are thus necessary to sew that fabric back together. No torn piece of clothing would magically sew itself back together; the tear would widen with time. In a similar way, the problems caused by racist policies of the past won’t simply go away; they will get worse with time.

Many people would use the conditions of black America today to reinforce their prejudice against blacks. Whites continuously do better than blacks on standardized tests.

There is a higher percentage of blacks committing violent crimes and going to jail. Consciously or subconsciously, these facts play a role in reinforcing racial stereotypes.

Geneticists would tell you that the color of one’s skin is as distinct as the shape of one’s nose. Discriminating against someone based on the color of the person’s skin is as ridiculous as discrimination based on the shape of a person’s nose.

Wouldn’t we all be surprised if 90 percent of the people living in the suburbs had big noses? Would we be surprised if people with big noses consistently did better on standardized tests than people with small noses?

I can sniff that we would indeed be surprised.

The fact that 90 percent of the people living in the suburbs are white is evidence that more needs to be done to desegregate America.

Just as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “You can’t cut off people’s legs and then blame them for being crippled.” What does it say about the American society when black Africans come to college in America and consistently do better on average than black Americans?

Brown v. Board of Education marked a crucial point in American history. It marked the point when the problems faced by black Americans were no longer separate from American problems, but equal. The problem of inner- city poverty affects not only black people, but poor white people as well.

The fabric of this society is sewn together by threads of equal opportunity, and somewhere in the ghettos of America, there is a tear in that fabric. As the gap between the rich and poor widens, that tear widens.

More people are beginning to feel like they don’t have a stake in this society and are going into crime. The social problems that arise from poverty would only get worse, harder and more expensive to deal with if they are simply ignored. More affirmative action laws that focus on getting people out of poverty need to be enacted.

Remember — a stitch in time saves nine.