and just like that, enforced school desegregation is over.

image of boston bussing courtesy of pbs

coming from boston, where desegregration of all white schools only occurred in the mid-seventies via bussing, and racial tensions ran so high that there were near riots, i fear what this means for the education system. the disparity between the schools which have, and the schools which have not is already so high. urban inner-city schools (read: majority minority schools) are already left to fester, while schools funded by high property taxes in the burbs flourish. the problem is that in big cities, it remains nearly impossible to separate issues of race from the socio-economic forces which continue to lead to greater levels of impoverishment amongst minorities. so you can’t make decisions which eliminate race as a factor without subsequently redressing the rest of the imbalances.

pretending the playing field is level, won’t make it so. and it’s the children who’ll suffer for our folly.

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supreme court of the united states, desegregation