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I find it both revelatory & infuriating that people say school desegregation was hard and unpopular, as if attempting to break apart 350 years of racial apartheid was going to be smooth, painless and easy. With busing, we actually tried and it was HARD. But segregation was worse.
Busing for integration did not fail. We failed. The ONLY deseg plan that wouldn’t have stoked white resistance was the one that left racial caste largely intact. Busing was required bc of 150 yrs of housing policy that forcibly seg black people. We need to stop being delusional.
People keep pointing to a long bus ride as if that horror outweighs attending a grossly under-resources, failing school that would ensure you could never compete and change your circumstance. It makes no sense. And again, kids were ALREADY RIDING BUSES.
How many private schools are neighborhood schools? I live in Bed-Stuy. We have lots of white 5-year-olds but they aren’t attending the schools down the block. Don’t talk to me about travel times. It ain’t the bus. It’s us.
