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Desegregation busing
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=== Reaction === ==== Before 2007 ==== The impact of the ''Brown v. Board of Education'' ruling was limited because whites and blacks tended to live in all-white or all-black communities. Initial integration in the South tended to be symbolic: for example, the integration of [[Clinton High School (Clinton, Tennessee)|Clinton High School]], the first public school in Tennessee to be integrated, amounted to the admission of twelve black students to a formerly all-white school. "Forced busing" was a term used by many to describe the mandates that generally came from the courts. Court-ordered busing to achieve school desegregation was used mainly in large, ethnically segregated school systems, including [[Boston]], Massachusetts; [[Cleveland]] and [[Columbus, Ohio]]; [[Kansas City, Missouri]]; [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] and [[San Francisco]], California; [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], Virginia; [[Detroit]], Michigan; and [[Wilmington, Delaware]]. From 1972 to 1980, despite busing, the percentage of blacks attending mostly-minority schools barely changed, moving from 63.6 percent to 63.3 percent.<ref name="'70s 252" /> Forced busing was implemented starting in the 1971 school year, and from 1970 to 1980 the percentage of blacks attending mostly-minority schools decreased from 66.9 percent to 62.9 percent. The South saw the largest percentage change from 1968 to 1980 with a 23.8 percent decrease in blacks attending mostly-minority schools and a 54.8 percent decrease in blacks attending 90%β100% minority schools.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Orfield |first1=Gary |title=Public School Desegregation in the United States, 1968β1980 |url=https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/public-school-desegregation-in-the-united-states-1968-1980 |website=UCLA Civil Rights Project |publisher=Joint Center for Political Studies |access-date=2 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wooten |first1=James T. |title=Busing for Desegregation to Affect 350,000 Pupils in the South |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/15/archives/busing-for-desegregation-to-affect-350000-pupils-in-the-south.html |work=The New York Times |date=15 August 1971 |access-date=2 June 2020}}</ref> In some southern states in the 1960s and 1970s, parents opposed to busing created new private schools. The schools, called [[segregation academies]], were sometimes organized with the support of the local [[White Citizen's Council]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Citizen's Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954β1964 |page=301 |last=McMillen |first=Neil R. |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |year=1971 |place=Urbana |isbn=0-252-00177-X}}</ref> For the 1975β76 school year, the [[Louisville, Kentucky]] school district, which was not integrated due to whites largely moving to the suburbs, was forced to start a busing program.<ref name="'70s 252" /> The first day, 1,000 protestors rallied against the busing, and a few days into the process, 8,000 to 10,000 whites from [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson County]], [[Kentucky]], many teenagers, rallied at the district's high schools and fought with police trying to break up the crowds.<ref name="'70s 252" /> Police cars were vandalized, 200 were arrested, and people were hurt in the melee, but despite further rallies being banned the next day by Louisville's mayor, demonstrators showed up to the schools the following day.<ref name="'70s 252" /> Kentucky Governor [[Julian Carroll]] sent 1,800 members of the [[Kentucky National Guard]] and stationed them on every bus.<ref name="'70s 252" /> On September 26, 1975, 400 protestors held a rally at [[Southern High School (Kentucky)|Southern High School]], which was broken up by police [[tear gas]], followed by a rally of 8,000 the next day, who marched led by a woman in a [[wheelchair]] to prevent police reprisals while cameras were running.<ref name="'70s 252" /> Despite the protests, Louisville's busing program continued.<ref name="'70s 252" /> Congressional opposition to busing continued. Delaware senator (and future 46th US President) [[Joe Biden]] said "I don't feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather,"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Viser |first1=Matt |title=Biden's tough talk on 1970s school desegregation plan could get new scrutiny in today's Democratic Party |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bidens-tough-talk-on-1970s-school-desegregation-plan-could-get-new-scrutiny-in-todays-democratic-party/2019/03/07/9115583e-3eb2-11e9-a0d3-1210e58a94cf_story.html |access-date=12 April 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=7 March 2019 |language=en |quote=[Biden] added, "I don't feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation is today, for the sins of my own generation. And I'll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago."}}</ref> and that busing was "a liberal train wreck."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sokol |first1=Jasin |title=How a Young Joe Biden Turned Liberals Against Integration |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/04/joe-biden-integration-school-busing-120968 |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=[[Politico]] |date=4 August 2015 |quote=Biden called busing "a liberal train wreck."}}</ref> In 1977, senators [[William Roth]] and Biden proposed the "Biden-Roth" amendment. This amendment "prevented judges from ordering wider busing to achieve actually-integrated districts."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Asher |title=Joe Biden's Record on Racial Integration is Indefensible |url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2018/04/joe-bidens-record-on-racial-integration-is-indefensible |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=[[Current Affairs (magazine)|Current Affairs]] |date=11 April 2019 |language=en |quote=the bill required judges to tailor their court orders to remedy only the adverse effects of existing segregation, i.e. it prevented judges from ordering wider busing to achieve actually-integrated districts}}</ref> Despite Biden's lobbying of other senators<ref name="ThisisCNN">{{cite news |last1=Zeleny |first1=Jeff |title=Letters from Joe Biden reveal how he sought support of segregationists in fight against busing |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/11/politics/joe-biden-busing-letters-2020/index.html |access-date=12 April 2019 |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=11 April 2019 |language=en |quote="My bill strikes at the heart of the injustice of court-ordered busing. It prohibits the federal courts from disrupting our educational system in the name of the constitution where there is no evidence that the governmental officials intended to discriminate," Biden wrote to fellow senators on March 25, 1977. "I believe there is a growing sentiment in the Congress to curb unnecessary busing."}}</ref> and getting the support of Judiciary Committee Chairman [[James Eastland]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jeff Zeleny |title=Joe Biden: Letters reveal how he sought support of segregationists in fight against busing |url=https://preview.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-letters-reveal-how-he-sought-support-of-segregationists-in-fight-against-busing/ar-BBVR2a1 |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=MSN News |date=11 April 2019 |quote=Two weeks later, Biden followed up with a note to Eastland "to thank you again for your efforts in support of my bill to limit court ordered busing."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Ben Mathis-Lilley |title=Biden Praises Jeb Bush as Old Letters Show He Sought Support From Famous Segregationist |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/04/joe-biden-segregationist-jeb-bush.html |access-date=12 April 2019 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=11 April 2019 |language=en |quote=Wrote Biden to Eastland: "My bill strikes at the heart of the injustice of court-ordered busing."}}</ref> "Biden-Roth" narrowly lost. ==== After 2007 ==== Civil rights advocates{{who|date=December 2023}} see the 2007 joint ruling on ''[[Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1]]'' and ''Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education'' of the Roberts court as the inevitable consequence of gradual court decisions dating back to the early 1970s to ease judicial supervision and limit important tools to achieve integrated schools. Even those school districts that voluntarily created race-conscious programs are under pressure to abandon these efforts as the white parents are refusing to participate in any pupil assignment programs. In some cases, white parents filed [[reverse discrimination]] lawsuits in court. Wherever the courts have backed away from mandating school districts to implement desegregation plans, resegregation of Blacks and Latinos has increased dramatically.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Orfield, G. |author2=Lee, C. |name-list-style=amp |title=Historic reversals, accelerating resegregation, and the need for new integration strategies |year=2007 |publisher=Los Angeles: The Civil Rights Project}}</ref> In 1988, 44 percent of southern black students were attending majority-white schools. In 2005, 27 percent of black students were attending majority white schools. By restricting the tools by which schools can address school segregation, many fear that the PICS decision will continue to accelerate this trend.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/parents-involved-community-schools-v-seattle-school-district-no-1 |title=Brennan Center for Justice}}</ref> The ruling reflects the culmination of the conservatives' central message on education, as alleged by the liberal [[Civil Rights Project]],<ref name="Orfield 2009 4">{{cite book |last=Orfield |first=G |title=Reviving the goal of an integrated society: A 21st century challenge |year=2009 |publisher=Los Angeles: The Civil Rights Project |page=4}}</ref> that "race should be ignored, inequalities should be blamed on individuals and schools, and existing civil rights remedies should be dismantled".<ref name="Orfield 2009 4"/> In 2001 Congress passed the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] (NCLB) which was promptly signed by President [[George W. Bush]]. The law put a premium on student testing, not integration, to measure academic progress. Financial penalties were incurred on schools if students did not demonstrate adequate academic performance. While initially supported by Democrats, critics say the law has failed to adequately address the achievement gap between whites and minorities and that there are problems with implementation and inflexible provisions.<ref name="Jost 345β372">{{cite journal |last=Jost |first=Kenneth |title=School Desegregation |journal=CQ Researcher |date=April 23, 2004 |volume=14 |issue=15 |pages=345β372}}</ref>
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