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This review is focused on literature documenting the experiences of nondominant and minoritized parents who challenge injustice and inequity in the public schools attended by their children. It interrogates hegemonic approaches to parent involvement favoring dominant groups and silencing efforts of nondominant parents to confront discriminatory assumptions and unequal opportunities. Research studies generally published between 1995 and 2016 reflecting grassroots parent activism encountering conflict and tension and exposing racism, classism, and discrimination in public school practices and policies were selected. Using the lens of critical race and social justice theories, the review is structured on three major public school hypocrisies: (1) hegemonic traditional school-controlled parent involvement that privileges dominant groups and devalues contributions of nondominant groups, (2) false claims of equity in schools characterized by stratified and differential opportunities, and (3) discriminatory market-based choice and privatization schemes. Ultimately the review calls on researchers to acknowledge ethical issues that arise when their work “confirms” nondominant parent and child inferiority. Further, it calls for observer–activist–participant research paradigms that acknowledge school-based resistance to critical nondominant parent activism and respectfully document the continuing struggle of nondominant parents for equal educational opportunities.

In this article, I use perspective gained from 18 years of experience as an urban public school parent between 1978 and 1996 to provide insights into Brown at 50. Through description of two public conflicts over special choice programs in the school districts where my family and I lived during those years, I analyze the emergent issues of discrimination, false meritocracy, and persistent inequity. Ultimately, I argue that classism combined with racism enabled school districts and privileged parents to defend inequitable opportunities when they were combined with the appearance of parental choice. I assert that the development of selective choice programs rather than efforts to enhance systemwide equity allowed for continued resistance to equal educational opportunity. Finally, I argue that continued progress toward the goals of Brown requires a renewed commitment to civic responsibility on the part of educators and citizens. The ultimate goals of Brown will be achieved, I argue, when school reform embodies a unified public commitment to social progress through educational reform rather than a piecemeal system of school choices that cater to the demands of more privileged parents and thus reflect pre- Brown stratification, segregation, and inequality.

In this article, I use perspective gained from 18 years of experience as an urban public school parent between 1978 and 1996 to provide insights into Brown at 50. Through description of two public conflicts over special choice programs in the school districts where my family and I lived during those years, I analyze the emergent issues of discrimination, false meritocracy, and persistent inequity. Ultimately, I argue that classism combined with racism enabled school districts and privileged parents to defend inequitable opportunities when they were combined with the appearance of parental choice. I assert that the development of selective choice programs rather than efforts to enhance systemwide equity allowed for continued resistance to equal educational opportunity. Finally, I argue that continued progress toward the goals of Brown requires a renewed commitment to civic responsibility on the part of educators and citizens. The ultimate goals of Brown will be achieved, I argue, when school reform embodies a unified public commitment to social progress through educational reform rather than a piecemeal system of school choices that cater to the demands of more privileged parents and thus reflect pre- Brown stratification, segregation, and inequality.