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It Never Was About Busing, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

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The New York Times, July 12, 2019

When Senator Kamala Harris confronted former Vice President Joe Biden at the second Democratic presidential debate about his support of bills to ban busing for school desegregation during the 1970s and early 1980s...

there was little discussion about busing's efficacy, at least not with facts, or about whether or not busing served its purpose of breaking apart the educational caste system...

we have come to be largely silent and accepting of the fact that 65 years after the Supreme Court struck down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, black children are as segregated from white students as they were in the mid-1970s when Mr. Biden was working with Southern white supremacist legislators to curtail court-ordered busing...

When the Supreme Court handed down its radical ruling for racial justice, the white South began a systematic anti-integration campaign known as Massive Resistance...

Many white Northerners initially applauded the Brown ruling, believing it was about time the South behaved when it came to its black citizens. But that support hinged largely on the belief that Brown v. Board of Education did not apply to them and their communities. When black activists in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Dayton, Ohio, pushed to dismantle the de jure segregation that existed in their cities, white support for the integration mandate of Brown faded.

It Was Never About Busing - The New York Times

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The truth I received from this very long essay is that the vast majority of white parents do not want their children to attend schools dominated by blacks. This was true when the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court Decision was made in 1954. It remains true, despite the fact that blacks have had over two generations to demonstrate that black majority schools are safe learning environments for whites and Asians. Frequently they are unsafe for blacks who want to learn. These are ostracized and beaten up for "acting white." That explains why responsible black parents usually want their children to attend white majority public schools. It also explains why white parents and white students shrink from the influx of black students.

I have never in my life talked to or read about a white person who had a positive experienced with forced school busing. Invariably the experiences were negative, often very negative.

Even white liberal parents move to white school districts or send their children to private schools if the alternative is to send them to public schools where black students are in the majority. The problem is not that the toilets do not flush. The problem is that whites who use the restrooms are sometimes beaten up by blacks. I actually read about that happening in a black majority high school in the black majority city where I live. When the whites complained to the black principal he suggested they use the rest room in the nurse's office.

The durability of white opposition to forced school busing should matter in a democratic country. Instead of wilting before Kamala Harris, Joe Biden should have said, "I opposed forced school busing in 1973. I still do. Here's why..."
 
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No one was positively impacted by the busing programs of the 70s. I grew up in Jacksonville and was part of the first busing program. 100 white bused into a majority black American school downtown. 100 young black kids sent to majority white schools named after civil war heroes...Schools like Jefferson Dave...Jeb Stuart...and Nathaniel Bedford Forrest. I cant imagine what the young black kids experience was. For me, it was my first time held at gunpoint...they kept tabs on where we were at all times, and at least once a month they would run a drill where the coaches ran through the school, gathered up all the white students, and locked us in the gym for 3-4 hours to keep us safe. It wasnt a picnic for anyone. The irony is that they took me from a neighborhood that was majority black and the people that I ran with, played sports with, even dated went to their 'normal' majority white schools, and did just fine.

Busing was a bunch of adults trying to work out their own racial issues using kids.
 
No one was positively impacted by the busing programs of the 70s. I grew up in Jacksonville and was part of the first busing program. 100 white bused into a majority black American school downtown. 100 young black kids sent to majority white schools named after civil war heroes...Schools like Jefferson Dave...Jeb Stuart...and Nathaniel Bedford Forrest. I cant imagine what the young black kids experience was. For me, it was my first time held at gunpoint...they kept tabs on where we were at all times, and at least once a month they would run a drill where the coaches ran through the school, gathered up all the white students, and locked us in the gym for 3-4 hours to keep us safe. It wasnt a picnic for anyone. The irony is that they took me from a neighborhood that was majority black and the people that I ran with, played sports with, even dated went to their 'normal' majority white schools, and did just fine.

Busing was a bunch of adults trying to work out their own racial issues using kids.

@VanceMack,

Thank you for your honesty. I was a child in a southern state that resisted the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court Decision of 1954. My parents were northern liberals who taught me not to dislike blacks. I told my friends and classmates that I wanted our elementary school to be integrated. Back then it was not safe to advocate that.

I have never in my life attended a school where blacks made up more than five percent of the student body. That gave me an impression of the Negro race that I now believe was unrealistically benign.

During my life I have experienced downward social and economic mobility. Consequently I have lived and worked in and near black neighborhoods. I have also been mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by blacks.

Most white liberals live and work in white neighborhoods. They know few blacks. Those few are exceptional, or they occupy subordinate positions without resentment. I know. That is the environment from which I have descended.
 
The issue of forced school busing to better integrate public schools has been dead for several decades now and it was only a cudgel for Harris to chop some percentage points off the Biden lead. That is all it ever was and anyone who think otherwise has been deceived.
 
@VanceMack,

Thank you for your honesty. I was a child in a southern state that resisted the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court Decision of 1954. My parents were northern liberals who taught me not to dislike blacks. I told my friends and classmates that I wanted our elementary school to be integrated. Back then it was not safe to advocate that.

I have never in my life attended a school where blacks made up more than five percent of the student body. That gave me an impression of the Negro race that I now believe was unrealistically benign.

During my life I have experienced downward social and economic mobility. Consequently I have lived and worked in and near black neighborhoods. I have also been mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by blacks.

Most white liberals live and work in white neighborhoods. They know few blacks. Those few are exceptional, or they occupy subordinate positions without resentment. I know. That is the environment from which I have descended.

I did a lot of my growing up years during segregation in eastern New Mexico. The little oil patch town was pretty typical of west Texas style southerners with a lot of old west and old south culture forming the basic values of the community. All the black kids in town were bussed to the 'black schools' in the larger town about 20 minutes or so away. Long before the government made desegregation mandatory, the town leaders got together and noted that we had plenty of room in our local schools and it was silly to bus those kids to the next town. Why shouldn't they go to school at home? So we integrated and while we were at it did away with all the other silly rules like separate drinking fountains, the black folks had to sit in the balcony at the movie theater etc. (I was always so jealous of the black kids getting to sit up there.)

The white kids, including a smattering of Hispanics immediately befriended the black kids and started bringing them home to play, for lunch or dinner, etc. Our parents, entrenched in old south segregated culture, swallowed hard but came through as troopers. And it was no time that they thought no more about it than we kids did. And I got to sit in the balcony at the movie theater. :)

Result: a small town that integrated voluntarily based on common sense considerations with no resulting resentment or defensiveness or anybody feeling they had to walk on eggs with anybody. Were there racists in that community? Sure. White ones and black ones. But most just merged seamlessly and life went on and it was good. That is how it should be. That is how systemic racism is defanged and rendered harmless.

And I've never looked to verify it, but I'm pretty sure those black kids in our schools went on to college, etc. at pretty much the same rate as the white kids.
 
The issue of forced school busing to better integrate public schools has been dead for several decades now and it was only a cudgel for Harris to chop some percentage points off the Biden lead. That is all it ever was and anyone who think otherwise has been deceived.

I intend to vote for Joe Biden, but I was disappointed with his response to Kamala Harris. If he had stood up to her and calmly explained his opposition to busing he would have gained the support of many whites who have become disenchanted with Donald Trump.

The Democratic Party needs to win back much of the South and most of the white working class. The Democrats will not achieve this by pandering to race hustlers.
 
@VanceMack,

Thank you for your honesty. I was a child in a southern state that resisted the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court Decision of 1954. My parents were northern liberals who taught me not to dislike blacks. I told my friends and classmates that I wanted our elementary school to be integrated. Back then it was not safe to advocate that.

I have never in my life attended a school where blacks made up more than five percent of the student body. That gave me an impression of the Negro race that I now believe was unrealistically benign.

During my life I have experienced downward social and economic mobility. Consequently I have lived and worked in and near black neighborhoods. I have also been mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by blacks.

Most white liberals live and work in white neighborhoods. They know few blacks. Those few are exceptional, or they occupy subordinate positions without resentment. I know. That is the environment from which I have descended.
I understand life and the real world and the development of racial hatreds...but I can tell you that as kids...adolescents...young teens...none of us gave the first **** about race until adults decided they had to impose it on us.
 
The issue of forced school busing to better integrate public schools has been dead for several decades now and it was only a cudgel for Harris to chop some percentage points off the Biden lead. That is all it ever was and anyone who think otherwise has been deceived.

It is important to remember that Harris promised to re-institute forced busing should she become the Democratic Party's nominee. Every parent needs to figure how to come up with 2+ hours a day 5 days a week extra to take their kid to and from their new school miles away - or buy winter clothing and stress "stranger danger" for their kid standing waiting for a bus - plus probably martial arts classes to deal with harassment on the long bus ride twice a day.
 
@VanceMack,

Thank you for your honesty. I was a child in a southern state that resisted the Brown vs Board of Education Supreme Court Decision of 1954. My parents were northern liberals who taught me not to dislike blacks. I told my friends and classmates that I wanted our elementary school to be integrated. Back then it was not safe to advocate that.

I have never in my life attended a school where blacks made up more than five percent of the student body. That gave me an impression of the Negro race that I now believe was unrealistically benign.

During my life I have experienced downward social and economic mobility. Consequently I have lived and worked in and near black neighborhoods. I have also been mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by blacks.

Most white liberals live and work in white neighborhoods. They know few blacks. Those few are exceptional, or they occupy subordinate positions without resentment. I know. That is the environment from which I have descended.

I think this is true in most cases.
 
It is important to remember that Harris promised to re-institute forced busing should she become the Democratic Party's nominee. Every parent needs to figure how to come up with 2+ hours a day 5 days a week extra to take their kid to and from their new school miles away - or buy winter clothing and stress "stranger danger" for their kid standing waiting for a bus - plus probably martial arts classes to deal with harassment on the long bus ride twice a day.

The real harassment for white students will begin once they get to school.
 
It is important to remember that Harris promised to re-institute forced busing should she become the Democratic Party's nominee. Every parent needs to figure how to come up with 2+ hours a day 5 days a week extra to take their kid to and from their new school miles away - or buy winter clothing and stress "stranger danger" for their kid standing waiting for a bus - plus probably martial arts classes to deal with harassment on the long bus ride twice a day.

Where did Harris promise this? Please provide the quote.
 
The issue of forced school busing to better integrate public schools has been dead for several decades now and it was only a cudgel for Harris to chop some percentage points off the Biden lead. That is all it ever was and anyone who think otherwise has been deceived.

I thought that Harris subsequently said she'd bring back busing so every school looked the same. Perhaps she's since reversed her position.
 
It is important to remember that Harris promised to re-institute forced busing should she become the Democratic Party's nominee. Every parent needs to figure how to come up with 2+ hours a day 5 days a week extra to take their kid to and from their new school miles away - or buy winter clothing and stress "stranger danger" for their kid standing waiting for a bus - plus probably martial arts classes to deal with harassment on the long bus ride twice a day.

I don't get it. So a family (I don't care what race they are!) that chooses to move out to the suburbs where schools are better, and work hard to be there, would be forced to put their ki on a bus to the inner city where they chose NOT to be?
I think that's nuts and setting us back decades.
 
“I support busing,” she told reporters outside city hall. “Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated today than when I was in elementary school. And we need to put every effort, including busing, into play to desegregate the schools.”

Kamala Harris’s Call to Bring Back Busing Is Bold and Risky

Saw your post after I posted mine. Thanks for the link.
The thing is, segregation isn't forced. It's not Jim Crow.
People should never again be forced to put their kids on a bus for hours each day so they can fill some arbitrary quota. It's mind boggling that the government would FORCE a parent to send their child to a crappy school.
 
“I support busing,” she told reporters outside city hall. “Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated today than when I was in elementary school. And we need to put every effort, including busing, into play to desegregate the schools.”

Kamala Harris’s Call to Bring Back Busing Is Bold and Risky

I sincerely thank you for that.

It is my humble opinion that the nation does not want to return to this issue and Senator Harris does not have an issue that the majority or even a significant minority of people would support.
 
I intend to vote for Joe Biden, but I was disappointed with his response to Kamala Harris. If he had stood up to her and calmly explained his opposition to busing he would have gained the support of many whites who have become disenchanted with Donald Trump.

The Democratic Party needs to win back much of the South and most of the white working class. The Democrats will not achieve this by pandering to race hustlers.

But sadly that is what the Democratic Party has reduced itself to. Oh the DNC platform will have all the feel good phrases of investment in this and investment in that and free everything--all the same impractical and ineffective disingenuous stuff that usually gets put on the shelf and forgotten once they are safely in office. But the primary emphasis will be righting wrongs of previous generations or even the present generation, avenging the wronged, making victims of every demographic they count on to vote for them.

That means racism is the number one weapon in their arsenal.
Want to secure the border? You're racist.
Disapprove of four angry women in Congress denouncing the country and making wild, ignorant accusations? You're racist.
Promote voter ID? You're racist.
Don't have the right number of dark faces in your company, on your team, in your club, in your school etc.? You're racist.
The black person is the first person voted off of Survivor or Big Brother or American Idol? That's racist.
Think English should be required of immigrants? That's racist.


Bring a watermelon to share with your coworkers? That's racist.
Think government forced busing is a bad idea? That's racist.
Use any double entendre with the slightest possibility of politically incorrect interpretation? That's racist.
Fail to feel guilty or understand that you engage in white supremacy or disapprove of removing historical monuments or appreciate our history because of racial aspects, and you are really REALLY racist.
The ONLY reason a person would fly a Confederate battle flag is because the person is RACIST.
Immigration based on merit? That's racist.
Nike and Kaepernick are correct that the Betsy Ross flag is RACIST despite Obama displaying two of them at his last inauguration.
Most recently, just putting a citizenship question on the U.S. Census is RACIST!!!

It has become an industry employed by Democrats and the radical left, not to eliminate racism--it accomplishes just the opposite of that--but for political advantage.

The pity is that it obscures and minimizes real racism and de-emphasizes it to the point it gets lost in the noise.

And all of that is why President Trump almost certainly will win a second term.
 
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That means racism is the number one weapon in their arsenal.
Want to secure the border? You're racist.
Disapprove of four angry women in Congress denouncing the country and making wild, ignorant accusations? You're racist.
Promote voter ID? You're racist.
Don't have the right number of dark faces in your company, on your team, in your club, in your school etc.? You're racist.
The black person is the first person voted off of Survivor or Big Brother or American Idol? That's racist.
Think English should be required of immigrants? That's racist.


Bring a watermelon to share with your coworkers? That's racist.
Think government forced busing is a bad idea? That's racist.
Use any double entendre with the slightest possibility of politically incorrect interpretation? That's racist.
Fail to feel guilty or understand that you engage in white supremacy or disapprove of removing historical monuments or appreciate our history because of racial aspects, and you are really REALLY racist.
The ONLY reason a person would fly a Confederate battle flag is because the person is RACIST.
Immigration based on merit? That's racist.
Nike and Kaepernick are correct that the Betsy Ross flag is RACIST despite Obama displaying two of them at his last inauguration.
Most recently, just putting a citizenship question on the U.S. Census is RACIST!!!

Words change their meaning over time. As best as I can tell a "racist" is someone who states an unflattering comment about blacks that is true.

When one is accused of racism truth is no defense. It is evidence for the prosecution.
 
I started my teaching career in the late 70's. I taught in the same Kansas City school district until retirement. During that time I never saw white kids being bused to achieve de-segregation. The vast majority of busing was black kids. Often they were bused many miles, and a long bus ride from home. This meant that their parents had even a harder time than normal making it to school functions. It also meant there was no sense of "neighborhood" like they had back in their all black school. Ironic that what Mr.Brown wanted for his daughter was for her to go to the closest school to their home, and not be bused anymore to a black school farther away.

Of course the administrators wanted the black kids to succeed. Not that they really cared about black kids so much, but they didn't want black kids failing in their mostly white schools. Bad publicity. So from then on we started dumbing down everything a little each year. Every five years we adopted new textbooks. Each new one was at a slightly lower reading level. Our attendance policy was slowly changed so it wouldn't look like we were picking on blacks. Our grading standards slid down a little at a time. As did our behavior standards.

One of the most insidious forms of racism is the racism of low expectation. That's what sunk public schools. What we should have done is insist that the black kids be brought up to the higher standards. (They weren't all that high, to be honest. Not exactly unachieveable if you put the money and effort into it) Even if it meant a longer school year and more tutoring. But that would cost a lot of money, which means higher taxes, and people were already upset about costs relating to de-seg. So no real effort was made to keep standards higher, it was just easier to go with the flow.

Now that process of slow decline seems to permeate almost all of public education. K-12 through grad schools. Everything just looks better though the rose tinted glasses of lowered expectations.

BTW; over the years talking with black parents, fellow black teachers, and black leaders, most black people didn't think their kids had to be setting next to white kids to get a decent education. What most black people wanted all along was their own school board, their share of the money, and control over their kids education. They got none of that.
 
The issue of forced school busing to better integrate public schools has been dead for several decades now and it was only a cudgel for Harris to chop some percentage points off the Biden lead. That is all it ever was and anyone who think otherwise has been deceived.

Forced school busing was one of the issues which during the early seventies caused white blue collar workers to leave the Democrat Party for the Republican Party. This created the Republican ascendancy which has blighted my adult life. Forced school busing was never popular. By reminding voters of this terrible mistake by the Democrats Kamala Harris may cause Trump to be reelected in 2020.

The Democrats need to win back most of the white working class and much of the South. They will not do it by pandering to race hustlers like Harris.
 
Forced school busing was one of the issues which during the early seventies caused white blue collar workers to leave the Democrat Party for the Republican Party. This created the Republican ascendancy which has blighted my adult life. Forced school busing was never popular. By reminding voters of this terrible mistake by the Democrats Kamala Harris may cause Trump to be reelected in 2020.

The Democrats need to win back most of the white working class and much of the South. They will not do it by pandering to race hustlers like Harris.

It was NOT a long term smart move by Harris if you want a Trump defeat next year.
 
I just wanted to thank all the contributors to this thread for their very informative and civil comments about a controversial subject.

And I thank Debate Politics for allowing such a frank discussion.

*****

I lived in Los Angeles in the early 1950s when students were worried about going to a high school that was undergoing a transition. It was NOT due to busing. It was due to the fact that some people were moving into certain neighborhoods where they previously had not lived, so their children were now attending the closest school.


My parents were in business, so they were able to send me to a private school, for they were concerned about my personal safety and low academic standards at the closest high school.
 
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