-♪ ♪ -(cheering, applause)
All right, welcome back.
Now, a lawsuit left over from the Jim Crow era
in the Deep South looks like it has finally
come to a conclusion.
A federal court is ordering a Mississippi town
to fully desegregate its schools.
This is the culmination of a 50-year fight
against the Justice Department.
Black and white students are largely separated in Cleveland.
Under the order,
the town's two high schools must become one.
A school that's finally being integrated
after 50 years? Oh, man.
Guys, when we first heard this story,
we were so pumped up to do this.
I mean, this is right, like, in our wheelhouse, right?
We even wrote a sketch about it.
I get to go to a white school? Thank you, Jesus!
No, sorry, Mike, actually, we're not doing that.
We're not doing it, sorry.
Yeah, I know, it's sad. It's sad.
Uh, because, uh...
something about the way this story was being reported--
it just didn't sit right with me.
Which brings us to a new segment called
Hang On a Minute, News! This Don't Feel Right in my Bones.
Ooh.
So, it felt like the news reports were saying
that this was the case of an all-white school
versus an all-black school and that the town
was going to integrate the two into one, right?
Like some sort of fantastic racial harmony Voltron.
All right? But that's not all that's happening here.
Let's look at the facts. At Cleveland High School,
about half the students are white.
Meanwhile, East Side High School, situated
across railroad tracks in a less-affluent section
of town, is nearly all black.
That's right: the all-black high school is literally
on the wrong side of the tracks,
earning this week's On the Nose award.
♪ ♪
I salute you, East Side High School.
But, wait, if students already integrated
the white school, why is it being covered like this?
REPORTER:
to desegregate.
REPORTER 2:
-REPORTER 3:
Ordering the two schools to integrate.
-...racial desegregation. -...ordered to desegregate.
I mean, they're making it sound like George Wallace
giving his inaugural address in '63.
"Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"
(babbles)
Right?
I... That's what it felt like to me, right?
So... But the problem is not black students
aren't being allowed in the white school.
It's because white students aren't
going on the other side of the tracks
to attend the black school.
"But, Larry, how could that be?" Well, over the last 50 years,
East Side High School-- the historically black one--
has vastly fewer resources.
Until recently, East Side had no A.C.T. test prep,
no science textbooks for students to take home,
and get this-- no lockers.
What kind of a school doesn't have lockers?
Where are these kids supposed to hang up their
with Larry Wilmore on the cover? Right?
Where's that supposed to go?
And where are they supposed to shove the nerds?
Which, ironically, is anyone who has a
with Larry Wilmore on the cover.
All right, but here's my point: this story is really about
the city's failure to take care of the all-black school,
not about the half-white school's
inability to desegregate.
That school has both black and white students.
Call it Halle Berry High, if you will.
Sorry, I just use any excuse to bring up Halle Berry.
Hey, boo. Look...
Just racially mixed, see? It works, so...
Look, no one wants to send their kid
to an under-performing school, regardless of race.
So when these two schools are so close to each other
and yet one is so dramatically less-equipped,
it's no longer about Brown versus the Board of Education.
It's about brown...
versus a quality education.
And that's the real story
that needs to be told here.
We'll be right back.
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