Well, that’s exactly what we got on April 23 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Court ruled that students in the low-performing Detroit Public school system have a right to expect to learn to read and write, thus reversing the previous 2018 decision that said the state was not responsible.
The lawsuit sought to hold state officials responsible for system-wide failures that the plaintiffs said have deprived Detroit children of their right to literacy, left many classrooms and buildings in terrible condition, and left teachers without the resources they needed to do their jobs.
The case was inherited by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer who, while campaigning for her party’s nomination for governor, spoke movingly about the lawsuit stating, “Despite what the federal court said, despite what Bill Schuette and Gov. Snyder say, I believe every child in this state has a constitutional right to literacy.”
A group of black leaders is also calling on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to “claim her place in history” by negotiating a settlement in the landmark Detroit Right to Literacy case.
National civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Martin Luther King III and Yvonne M. White, president of the Michigan State Conference of the NAACP, joined Dr. Pamela L. Pugh to call on Gov. Whitmer to settle the case of Gary B. v. Whitmer and ensure equal access to education for black children in Michigan.
