Desegregation in Boston: Portrait of the Effects of Racial Integration in Boston - Report Example

Desegregation in Desegregation in Boston: Portrait of the Effects of Racial Integration in Boston of College Desegregation in 2 Desegregation in Boston: Portrait of the Effects of Racial Integration in Boston In the wake of the civil rights movement, the effect of schools having a lack of racial diversity created issues that the court moved in to handle. While schools had become required to allow both African American and Caucasian children to equally share in their opportunities through the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v Board of Education (Anderson 2004), desegregation was not immediately accomplished because neighborhoods were most often defined by racially separated cultures. Busing students from one district into another in order to provide racially integrated populations became a method for manufacturing integration. However, there was much resistance to this type of manipulation of the student body and one of the centers of resistance was in Boston where extreme radical behaviors erupted over the issue. Living in the poor areas of Boston is difficult. A distraction of the effects of attempts to desegregate the school systems created a light on the problem that did more to exacerbate the issues than to resolve them. People on both sides of the argument were passionately moved to say and act on their feelings on the issues, leaving the children in a turmoil of hatred and anger that blew through their hallways, leaving them anxious and without stability within their classroom situations. None of them knew where they would be tomorrow when the bussing situation was resolved, so making friends or connecting to figures of authority had a built in risk as those relationships could suddenly be severed without warning and without a sense of resolution. Being young in Boston during the late 1960’s and more so during the 1970’s was a pit of turmoil from which lives were changed. Desegregation in 3 In 1964 the Coleman report was commissioned in order to evaluate the educational opportunities that either were or were not available across issues of race, sex, and socio-economic status (Silver and Silver 1991, p. 114). Post World War II there was a feeling within the country that the end to poverty within the United States was near, but the hope was not fulfilled and a realization that poverty was once again on the rise had created the need to start examining both the causes and the consequences of low incomes. Part of the result of this report was a recommendation for bussing children between districts in order to redistribute the racial and socio-economic status so that the mix of children was more integrated rather than separated into groups that had stereotypical definitions where experience and opportunity was limited. Louise Day Hicks was a product of the sexual revolution as she took on the education of a lawyer, a field in which women were not yet filling the ranks. She became a member of the Boston School Committee, a known position that could launch a political career. As much as she was ahead of her time through her own achievements, however, she refused to acknowledge that the school system was suffering from a severity of segregation based on geographical districts when the NAACP attempted to bring it to hers and the attention of several committee members. In 1970 she ran for and won a seat in Congress, basing her platform on fear aimed at Caucasians in an attempt to suggest through innuendo that desegregation was a threat to their way of life (Brown and Tager 2000, p. 296). Mel King, a politician and an activist for the Boston city busing program, saw the issues of the city as problems that needed solutions in order to promote better Desegregation in 4 opportunities for African American children in run down urban neighborhoods. While for Hicks the issue became an opportunity to use fear as a political weapon, the issue was a source of passion for King as he worked to create better lives for those who lived in neighborhoods of decay and little future. What first was a demonstration that attempted to prove that the school systems were unfairly divided in services, busing became a long term solution in order to promote better options for as many children as possible. King, as the director of the Boston Urban League in 1967, helped to create programs that would service children and their parents in order to promote educational awareness on matters of schooling. The League helped parents to find ways in which to assert their desires for their children’s educations rather than letting the schools have total control. This promoted the encouragement of busing as a solution for desegregation (King 1981, p. 88). Judge Wendall Arthur Garrity was a powerful figure in the fight to create a balanced school system in Boston. Through his ruling that there was a perpetual state of segregation within the school districts in Boston, busing was put into action through a court order in order to promote desegregation (Taylor 1998, p. 77). In addition, his ruling inspired and gave legislative foundation to the Racial Imbalance Law which stated that no school could have over 50% of its population comprised of Caucasian children (Nelson 2005, p. 81). In 1974, Judge Garrity held several Committee members in contempt for not upholding the busing mandates and relented when a plan was developed to continue the program (Taylor 1998, p. 78). On December 9, 1975, Judge Garrity removed control of the school district from the hands of the Boston School Committee and removed the principle from the high Desegregation in 5 school along with seven other administration staff members. The violent antics that had ensued along with uncooperative behavior from the school leadership had forced him to make a radical move in order to help settle the matter. Both sides of the issue were creating very public demonstrations of support as African American civil rights proponents were coming into the city to show support, specifically Coretta Scott King who led a march of 2500 people, and Ralph Abernathy, Dick Gregory, and Amiri Baraka who showed up at an anti-discrimination rally that had an attendance of over 12,000 (Theoharis and Komozi 2005, p. 35). The struggle on both sides created angry retaliatory actions as well as ugly actions. The Caucasian rallies were fraught with bananas and monkey humor that was intended to humiliate and outcast their African American opponents. (Theoharis and Komozi 2005, p. 34). Violence is associated with social problems where a way of life appears to be in at risk of a change that will diminish the existing status of its people. It also happens when one people feels oppressed by another, although history proves out that it is not that often that it is the oppressed that are the most violent, but the oppressors as they feel that threat as they are in fear of their status and position in life. As well, as in the case of Louise Hicks, politicians often times use those fears as fuel for their political ambitions, creating a group of people that are pumped up with the antagonism that can be filled with violent results. This seems to be the case in Boston as a solution to the problem of segregation in the form of busing created a circumstance where a firm stand was taken by both sides of the dilemma, creating a dynamic that was similar to a powder keg set on fire - it could Desegregation in 6 blow at any minute. This seminal moment in history allowed the courts to come down with decisions that were on the side of what was right, rather than accede to the pressure of the public. In recent years the nation has not seen this kind of righteous development in the latest issues of discriminatory practices as they are related to sexuality. However, in the case of the education of children in regard to racial segregation that was denying appropriate opportunities, the courts did side with equality over popular passions. The issue of busing created a great stir in the progression of the civil rights movement. Children who were lucky enough to go to schools where the services were better had better chances for a great start in life. However, one has to wonder how the children who were left behind managed to create opportunity for themselves as none was provided. As well, children who were bused out of districts with better facilities were then put into situations where their education was not as good as it might have been had they gone to the district in which they had lived. The question on how to desegregate did not seem to be as central to location as it was to provision of services. Had services been equalized and children been allowed to all have access to equal school systems, one has to wonder if the segregation would still exist without the busing that occurred. The question of how the differences could have been remedied are moot as the program of busing was the solution that was promoted and executed. Although opposition was great, the program had a great deal of success as children began to experience a sense of the many cultures that comprised the differing neighborhoods. As well, the slow incremental changes that continue to end racism were allowed to grow as friendships and bonds could be created. The issue of busing was violently controversial, but in the end Desegregation in 7 provided a better overall environment. Desegregation in 8 References Anderson, Wayne. 2004. Brown v. Board of Education: the case against school segregation. Supreme Court cases through primary sources. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Bovard, James. 1995. Lost rights: the destruction of American liberty. New York: St. Martins Griffin. Brown, Richard D., and Jack Tager. 2000. Massachusetts: a concise history. Amherst, Mass: Univ. of Massachusetts Press. King, Mel. 1981. Chain of change: struggles for black community development. Boston: South End Press. Nelson, Adam R. 2005. The elusive ideal: equal educational opportunity and the federal role in Bostons public schools, 1950-1985. Historical studies of urban America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Silver, Harold, and Pamela Silver. 1991. An educational war on poverty: American and British policy-making, 1960-1980. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, Steven J. L. 1998. Desegregation in Boston and Buffalo: the influence of local leaders. SUNY series in Afro-American studies. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. Theoharis, Jeanne, and Komozi Woodard. 2005. Groundwork: local black freedom movements in America. New York [u.a.]: New York Univ. Read More