estate speculators who preyed on racial
fear. The NAACP technically won the law-
suit in 1977, with the courts deciding the
conditions within the district amounted
to unconstitutional segregation. But the
final court remedy, delivered in 1981, was
mostly limited to creating new magnet
schools within the district, and had little
lasting effect.
The NAACP lawsuit divided the city,
and Benton Harbor voters often rejected
education budgets. Shuttered factories
stopped paying taxes, leaving the schools
short of funds. In St. Joseph, where Whirl-
pool execs continued to live and tourists
came in the summer, there was money for
facilities and teacher pay.
Meanwhile, in 1994, Michigan re-
vamped the state school-funding sys-
tem, moving away from property taxes
to a state sales tax, among other sources.
While that shift should have helped Ben-
ton Harbor, there were a couple of catches.
First, districts that benefited from the old
system were grandfathered in at higher
levels of funding. St. Joseph began in 1994
by receiving nearly $1,000 more per stu-
dent than Benton Harbor, despite having
far fewer lower-income students to serve.
Second, Michigan instituted one of the
nation’s most expansive school-choice
programs, letting students enroll in other
districts or newly created charter schools,
bringing their school funding with them.
The campaign to enact the measure was
bankrolled by millions of dollars from a
native Michigander and staunch believer
in free markets named Betsy DeVos, who
is now the U.S. Secretary of Education.
Nationally some charter schools sig-
nificantly outperform regular public
schools, especially for low-income and
minority students. But successful char-
ters tend to be nonprofit and located in
cities large enough to absorb new com-
petition. Benton Harbor, a small, poor,
shrinking city, was soon home to three
new charters, two operated by for-profit
corporations. The unemployment, pov-
erty and collapse of infrastructure in Ben-
ton Harbor were the result of unmanaged
free-market competition that was too
intense for the community to bear. The
market-driven education policies pushed
by DeVos unleashed those same forces on
the school system, with similar results.
By the 2000s, the Benton Harbor
school district was losing students and
money to corporate-backed charters and
richer, better-funded neighboring dis-
tricts. It had to borrow money from the
state to make payroll. But that added
annual debt payments, plus interest, to
a collapsing bottom line. Aging facili-
ties went unrepaired and teacher sala-
ries lagged. Over 40% of classes are now
taught by uncertified substitutes.
“I came here when I was 3 years old,”
says Asia Tillman, 15, a sophomore at Ben-
ton Harbor High. “As I started growing up,
stuff started to get taken away from us.
There’s nowhere to work. There’s nowhere
to have fun.” She shifts in her chair, gath-
ering her thoughts. “Everybody, once they
get older, they move. Or if they don’t have
enough money, they stay. We don’t have
stores. We don’t really have anything.”
in 2012, traci Burton was a senior
at Lakeshore High School, in a district
neighboring Benton Harbor. She was
one of the few black students in AP Eng-
lish. One day, she came back from visit-
ing colleges to take a quiz. It contained
this question: “Many people assume that
all areas of Benton Harbor are [blank];
they don’t consider the neat arts district
8 RADICAL IDEAS
FOR EQUALITY NOW
Below, some of the biggest, most
innovative and, in some cases,
controversial ideas for making
the U.S. a more perfect union.
—Abigail Abrams
- BABY BONDS
Studies show that earning a
good living is not enough to
help people of color move up
the socioeconomic ladder. So
researchers William Darity Jr.
and Darrick Hamilton have
proposed “baby bonds,” which
would give every baby born in
the U.S. money up to about
$50,000, depending on their
family’s wealth. The money
would belong to the children,
becoming available when
they turn 18. Supporters say
giving every child a trust fund
could help level the economic
playing field and close the racial
wealth gap.
- NO CASH BAIL
Nearly half a million Americans
are in jail without a conviction—
and many are there because
they can’t afford bail. As people
wait for trial behind bars, they
often lose jobs, can’t care for
families and are likelier to take
plea deals. People of color are
disproportionately
affected.
Reformers have
debated ways
to eliminate
cash bail
for certain
defendants,
like those
who are unlikely
to skip trial and who don’t
pose a public danger. It’s still
controversial, but California
is considering outlawing the
practice, New Jersey and New
York have curtailed it, and
some progressive DAs are
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAMES GULLIVER HANCOCK FOR TIME considering similar steps.
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