November 2025
James A. Banks delivered the 2025 Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research, “Rethinking Brown When Diversity and Equity Are Imperiled and Democracy Is Fragile,” on October 23 to a small in-person audience at the Dr. Felice J. Levine Convening Center in Washington, D.C., and a virtual audience of nearly 1,500 viewers, including over 120 watch parties.
Banks’s lecture was followed by a discussion forum and audience Q&A, moderated by Adam Harris (New America), with reflections from commentators Kimberly J. Robinson (University of Virginia School of Law) and Andrea Senteno (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund).
AERA Executive Director Tabbye Chavous kicked off the program by acknowledging this “complex time as a nation, marked by familiar and new challenges to our collective commitment to equity and justice,” and recognized her predecessor Felice J. Levine, who was executive director when the Brown Lecture series began in 2004.
AERA President Maisha T. Winn introduced Banks, noting the significance of his insights as the nation confronts “the resurgence of White racism and nationalism that threatens efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Banks began by recalling his childhood in a racially segregated Arkansas Delta community and the “conspiracy of silence” surrounding the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
The silence about Brown by White people, Banks said, “was probably caused by fear that news of Brown might disrupt the institutionalized racist system of segregation that had been established in Lee County in the years after Reconstruction. That system was never publicly challenged or questioned by Whites or Blacks.”
Banks noted that while Brown reflected the democratic ideals in the nation’s founding documents, there was a disconnect in how it was implemented.
“There has always been—and there remains—a wide gap between America’s democratic ideals and its practices,” said Banks. “The efforts that were made to impede its implementation and the White rage that it evoked were also deeply American.”
While acknowledging the progress catalyzed by Brown, Banks warned of the current re-emergence of White nationalism and racism. He urged listeners to confront a pressing question:
“Why, after 71 years of racial progress since Brown, are we experiencing organized, well-funded and successful attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, multicultural education, and democracy?”
He pointed to three possible explanations: persistent institutional racism, the country’s changing demographics, and Whites’ sense of victimization in response to the rise of the Black middle class.
Banks stressed the importance of transformative civic education, which “enables students to acquire the information, skills, and values needed to break silences about the shameful parts of the nation’s history: challenges inequality within their communities, nation, and the world; and takes civic action to help actualize equality and democracy.”
Such education, he noted, also helps students to develop reflective cultural, national, and global identifications essential for effective civic action. Banks urged educators to pay attention to the complex and fluid characteristics of the racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender identities of today’s students.
Returning to the theme of silence, Banks highlighted how recent federal actions echo past efforts to suppress difficult truths about U.S. history.
“Identifying silences,” he said, “can provide a foundation for students to fully engage their efficacy as citizens and thoughtfully participate in efforts to expand the rights and opportunities for diverse groups.”
During the discussion that followed, Robinson underscored the consequences of overlooking the role of educators in enforcing desegregation orders following Brown, instead relying solely on lawyers.
“We did not give voice to teachers, educators, principals, and school board members to truly understand and bring equal educational opportunity to life in our schools,” said Robinson.
Senteno spoke to the ways silences operate as tools of oppression, especially for immigrants and Latino communities, noting ongoing efforts to suppress Spanish language use and marginalize Latino culture.
“We are seeing that any voice that presents a challenge to the status quo is a voice that’s targeted to be silenced,” said Senteno.
Chavous closed the program by urging continued engagement beyond the event: “We must take what we have begun to grapple with tonight as a starting point and continue the fight towards equity and justice. It is the best and most worthwhile fight.”
The recording of the 2025 Brown Lecture is now available on the AERA website.