Today’s is the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education of 1954. Much has changed. Barack Obama was elected President twice. But much has not changed. The desegregation of schools that once seemed inevitable stalled, inhibited by white flight from urban districts and housing desegregation.
Historian Matthew D. Lassiter of the University of Michigan argues in this opinion piece in the Washington Post that desegregation failed because of white resistance and pusillanimous federal courts, which turned against desegregation as Republican presidents added conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
Fifty years ago today, the Supreme Court issued the landmark decision of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the most far-reaching school desegregation case since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. The Swann ruling upheld a lower court-imposed plan to integrate the public schools of metropolitan Charlotte through two-way busing between the segregated White suburbs and the all-Black central city neighborhoods.
During the next few years, busing helped transform the public schools in the states of the former Jim Crow South into the most racially integrated in the nation. The technique proved successful despite intense opposition that ranged from White resistance movements to the administration of president Richard Nixon.
But the Supreme Court deserves very little credit for this development, which depended on the NAACP’s visionary litigation and Charlotte having previously merged its schools with the outlying suburbs of Mecklenburg County. Chief Justice Warren Burger, the author of the Swann decision, actually wanted to overturn the Charlotte busing plan but could not achieve a majority to do so. Instead, he wrote a reluctant and convoluted opinion that provided a road map for metropolitan areas in the North and West to avoid meaningful school desegregation — something that became clear three years later in Milliken v. Bradley, when Burger helped invalidate an almost identical district court decision ordering two-way busing between the city and suburbs of Detroit.
The lesson? Then, and now, a supermajority of White Americans, both political parties and all three branches of the federal government have opposed the public policies necessary to dismantle housing and school segregation that stems from decades of government policy.
Indeed, by the mid-1970s, the Supreme Court established formidable barriers to meaningful integration and equitable access in urban and suburban neighborhoods that remain largely intact to this day, including decisions upholding the discriminatory policy of exclusionary zoning and allowing suburbs to ban low-income housing.
Despite popular narratives that focus on civil rights battles as a Southern issue, White resistance to substantive school desegregation happened across the country. In fact, the first organized antibusing movement in the nation began in 1964 in New York City, when several hundred thousand White families boycotted the public schools to protest a very modest desegregation plan that violated their racist conception of “neighborhood schools.”
During the mid-1960s, the NAACP launched an “all-out attack … against Jim Crow schools northern style.” But, the federal courts blocked its campaign, seeing segregated urban schools outside the South as a result of market-based patterns of neighborhood housing segregation and not unconstitutional state action.
This stark distinction between “de facto” segregation in the North and West and “de jure” segregation in the Jim Crow South was, however, a legal and political fiction. In fact, a vast array of government policies had divided metropolitan areas nationwide along racial lines, from redlining in the mortgage market to gerrymandered neighborhood schools.
The “de facto” defense soon became political ammunition for White resistance to integration in the metropolitan South. In fighting the Swann case, the White leaders and suburban parents in Charlotte insisted their “neighborhood schools” were not racially segregated by law or state action, a strategy they adopted directly from cities and suburbs in the North and West. Initially, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the NAACP’s Swann lawsuit in a 1966 ruling that stated the city had complied with Brown by adopting the Northern model of neighborhood-based schools.
During the next few years, the NAACP built a new case, arguing that because the policies of the municipal and federal governments had caused nearly comprehensive housing segregation in Charlotte and its suburbs, the resulting racial segregation in its neighborhood school system violated the Brown mandate.
It worked. District Judge James McMillan had a conversion experience as the NAACP presented this evidence and later remarked that “I lived here 24 years without knowing what was going on.” He ordered two-way busing between White and Black neighborhoods based on the finding that government policies had shaped racial segregation in housing patterns so thoroughly that the direct effect on school enrollments “is not innocent or ‘de facto.’”
In response, more than 100,000 White suburban parents formed a powerful antibusing movement and promised to appeal to the Supreme Court. They argued that racism and segregation had nothing to do with their neighborhood schools because they had bought their homes through hard work in a free market. They rejected the judge’s repeated explanations that a history of state-sponsored housing segregation had made their version of the American Dream possible — and unconstitutionally excluded Black residents of the city from it.
So did President Nixon. Thousands of White parents from Charlotte wrote letters to the White House identifying themselves as members of the “silent majority” and demanding federal intervention to protect White Americans from the alleged “reverse racism” of “forced busing.” The Nixon administration responded with a major policy statement calling for one national standard on school desegregation. It argued that “de facto” segregation stemming from metropolitan housing patterns was legal, nonracial and exempt from the scope of Brown.
On April 20, 1971, the Supreme Court upheld the two-way busing order in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The text of the decision was intentionally vague and internally contradictory. Significantly, it evaded McMillan’s central finding that state culpability in housing segregation required a remedy in the public schools. Instead Swann announced a discretionary “reasonableness” standard to assess whether the scope and burdens of a desegregation formula were practical or not. In a revealing double negative, Chief Justice Burger wrote that “we are unable to conclude that the order of the District Court is not reasonable.”
The legacy of Swann therefore came to depend on the discretionary decisions of lower-court judges. In short, the constitutional right to desegregated schools promised in Brown meant different things across the country. Different political jurisdictions in the same metropolitan region often followed different rules.
Charlotte became one of the nation’s most integrated urban school systems because White families could not easily escape the metropolitan-wide desegregation plan. Court-ordered busing in a number of other Southern metropolises also achieved relatively high integration levels because many of them, too, had annexed their suburbs or already had consolidated countywide school districts.
This fact would become crucial after a federal district judge ruled that Detroit’s “de jure segregated public school system” resulted from local, state and federal government policies “to establish and maintain the pattern of residential segregation” throughout the metropolitan region. In Milliken v. Bradley (1973), the Supreme Court overturned this ruling based on Swann’s “reasonableness” standard and effectively exempted autonomous suburban districts nationwide from the scope of Brown. White parents in most cities knew that if they moved to the suburbs, their children would be beyond the reach of any busing plan.
In Boston, the violent White working-class resistance to school desegregation inside the city limits led to a new political consensus that court-ordered busing was a disastrous failure. But the problem was actually far too little court-mandated school desegregation because it exempted White residents of suburban Boston. This pattern prevailed throughout the North and West as well as in major Southern cities such as Atlanta.
Since the late 1980s the Supreme Court has first permitted the end of judicial supervision of school desegregation and then subsequently required the end of affirmative action to maintain integrated schools. The result has been a process of resegregation and the reversal of the progress achieved during the 1970s through court-ordered busing. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the federal courts have even banned the use of any race-conscious techniques to maintain integration by classifying them as reverse discrimination against White students.
The Supreme Court nationalized this evisceration of Brown in a 2007 case involving Seattle and Louisville where Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s controlling opinion invalidated modest voluntary integration strategies by equating them with the unconstitutional practices of Jim Crow. This deliberate inversion of the moral categories and the historical narrative of the civil rights movement went far beyond the Supreme Court’s poison pill of “reasonableness” in the 1971 Swann decision, but both landmark cases shared a common thread: the refusal to even acknowledge, much less confront, the burdens of White supremacy and government-sanctioned racial segregation nationwide.
For the federal judiciary, this civil rights history does not actually matter at all. But it should, and it shows the path forward for the very public policies needed to redress inequalities in housing and education.
Laws reflect the interests and values of a society. We need to remember that at one time slavery was the law of the land. If privatization of public education has taught us anything, it is that housing patterns can be manipulated by the powers that be. Segregation is a fact of life in many communities in this country. De facto segregation has continued unchecked for decades despite civil rights laws. It is no accident that the privatization of public education often occurs with redevelopment. Unlike public schools that bring diverse students together, privatization separates students often along racial ans socioeconomic lines. Privatization is a tool of segregation. The federal government is aiding and abetting segregation through a system of tax credits and tax deferments. Opportunity Zones are the latest incentives to entice investors into declining urban neighborhoods. Mayors are in favor of these incentives because redevelopment will result higher tax ratables for the cities.
I worked with poor ELLs for decades. I was shocked to find out that one of my smart, diligent Haitian students is now a big deal investor and developer in Philadelphia, Baltimore and beyond. This young man attended Cornell on a football scholarship. He then obtained a an MPA from Cornell, and he also got second master’s in real estate from Columbia. He wants to help minorities and women obtain funding for real estate, and he claims that neighborhoods can be improved without displacing local residents. I find this hard to believe. He once was a poor, shy second grader from Haiti. I have no idea if he is an idealist or another business shark. This link describes some of his work. I am not betraying any trust by posting this article as he is a very public figure. https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2021/03/05/developer-ernst-valery-minority-real-estate-fund.htm
Sorry. The link didn’t work. Here’s a different one from Cornell. He is also working to get real estate funding for under served groups of people.https://blog.realestate.cornell.edu/2020/09/18/development-without-displacement-insights-from-ernst-valery-bs-00-mpa-01/
I reflexively think of all developers as sharks, but I must say that your student seems to understand and care about something greater than making money for himself. If he truly is working based on ideals, he clearly will need to work in tandem with local politicians, whom I reflexively think of as sharks. Is there an AOC in the house?
No discussion about conservative courts should exclude the names of Leonard Leo and his Federalist Society. For his successes in getting conservative judges appointed, Leo received an award from an organization identified with one of America’s two conservative religions (about 20% of the pop. identifies with the church).
Narrowing down on a segment of the “white opposition” today, focus should be on the conservative religious right (two religions that represent something less than 40% of the population but, which have far greater influence among politicians and judges than it suggests). Without them, “white opposition” wouldn’t survive politically. The self-proclaimed devoutly religious of the right wing who politic from positions in the military, in government and, in groups working to destroy public schools are a threat to progressivism and with that, they prevent black people from fair and equal treatment.
Charles Koch grooms the religious right. The grooming began with Paul Weyrich, co-founder of ALEC, who was funded by Koch. This year, one of the U.S’. two major conservative religions was described by the devoutly religious as having “remarkable similarities” to Charles Koch’s recent book
When we listen to the self-proclaimed devoutly religious pontificate publicly about a link between the 1619 project and Marxism, we witness desperate attempts to protect while male privilege. And, they are willing to sacrifice the nation to protect it.
The conservative religious with their false claims of attacks on Christianity are traitors for Trump
Traitors For Trump: the TFT party
The remedy of regional desegregation died with his decision The ruling meant that as white families left Detroit for suburban school districts, the largely African American community still in the city was just left there. That inaction essentially allowed the city and the suburbs to segregate themselves.
“Thurgood Marshall wrote an amazingly powerful, dissent saying is that if you don’t provide a remedy here, you have no way to deal with the segregation.”
https://wdet.org/posts/2019/11/19/88885-the-1974-supreme-court-ruling-on-detroit-school-busing-that-worsened-segregation/
I am a fan of home renovation shows. There is a show on HGTV called “Bargain Block.” It is about two urban pioneers in Detroit They are not renovating the fancy city homes. On a shoe string budget and with a lot of creativity, they are renovating smaller neglected homes in the city. They are mostly selling to Black clients that can afford a property for under $100,000. They do not make a lot money from their work. They put the profit into buying the next home that they will renovate. They want to help bring Detroit back to life.
‘this’ not ‘his.’
How many, what ratio of whites oppose any and all efforts to advance desegregation?
Even if less than half of whites support all efforts to advance desegregation, that still means not all whites, but, too many.
Without “white” support slavery would have never ended, there wouldn’t have been a Civil War. John Brown was white. I’m white, and I support advancing desegregation. Without “white” support, there would have never been a Civil Rights Movement in the 1950 – 1960s.
I think it is a safe bet that most of these racist “whites” support Traitor Trump and “whites” that voted against Traitor Trump, not so much or not at all.
Gallup reports, “Most Americans Say Segregatiopn in Schools a Serious Problem”
52% of whites said it is very/moderately serious
45% said it wasn’t serious and a problem.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/266756/americans-say-segregation-schools-serious-problem.aspx
If that Gallup survey/data/study is correct, then a slight majority of whites are not opposing any and all efforts to advance desegreatation. But those whites that are, fight dirty using dark money to influence elections and legislation at all levels.
Rocket Reach reports that the organization, National School Choice Week, has 15 employees. Pioneer Institute posted about the head of the organization, Andrew Campanella, on 10-25-2019. In a bio. Campanella boasts the organization generated 13,000 positive news stories. The Heartland Institute wrote, “”Happiness, Thy Name is National School Choice”. Just curious, who funds the 15 employees, the headquarters and other expenses?
Carol Burris answered the question in an article by Valerie Strauss , WaPo, 1-21-2019. The funders are exactly the people we would expect.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reported with disappointment that President Biden—unlike his predecessors—did not issue a proclamation to honor “National School Choice Week”
Wonderful. The news bears a post of its own! The Walton heirs must be unhappy.
Important post! Thank you, Diane.
Everyone is prejudiced. Everyone. It is impossible not to be. As long as general (meaning widespread), public education is thought of as the commodity private business interests want it to be instead of the public good and buttress of the social contract it was meant to be, people will find a myriad of ways to separate themselves in pursuit of purity, whatever that may be depending on the circumstances. All are created equal in the eyes of justice and education, like it or not.
Brown v Board now! Brown v Board forever!
We must make public all charter schools and end the heinous practice of awarding vouchers for private schools. We must end school ratings. We must end gifted schools and programs. We must end all tracking. Open admissions. Equal electives for all. Equal access for all. Don’t just give me your high achievers; give them to me in the same class with your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe factory pollution — uh, free.
Lassiter mostly synthesizes the arguments made by Derek Black and Richard Rothstein. While admirably done on the one hand, he could have at least acknowledged them. Sources matter. Brown has arguably been the most mythologized Supreme Court decision ever. It has not lived up to its hype, something we should acknowledge and act pragmatically upon. With the hindsight of 67 years, it can be argued that it was stillborn. Swann, the Parents Involved and Meredith cases made sure this was so. Indeed, in many ways, it can be logically argued that the foundation of anti-Brown is stronger now than it was before 1954.
Agree.
In 1954, the U.S. wan’t experiencing the political power of Reagan-emboldened Charles Koch and the alliance of the conservative religious right funded by Koch (Paul Weyrich training manual, Theocracy Watch). Income equality was increasing so there was a substantial interest in all rising together instead of the current, fighting for scraps.
I was in fifth grade in the Spring of 1971 in Chattanooga TN. In the spring of 1970, the Swann decision, and other similar decisions, was handed down by the US Supreme Court decreeing that busing could be a reasonable remedy to integrate the public schools. Although this ruling did not specifically impact Chattanooga in 1971, the greater community read the tea leaves and began to act according to individual interests. Chattanooga did not institute busing for my grade level until the spring semester of 1974, yet many of the families at my elementary school chose options outside of the Chattanooga Public Schools two years prior to implementation. Our school, Normal Park Elementary, shrank from 3 classrooms per grade level to 2 in one year. Many of my friends left. This was the first time that I saw that those who can leave a school that is perceived to be declining, typically do. Families didn’t instinctively hang around to see how things would turn out. If they feared the future, they sent their children where things appeared safe. Yes, race was the key motivating factor.
The school community began to change within as well. In the fall of 1971, 1/3 of the teachers left Normal Park and the city schools. As I matriculated through junior high and high school, most of the teachers who taught my older siblings resigned, retired or moved on. By the spring semester of 1974, African Americans were bused from inner city schools to suburban schools. Although there was some busing of white students to inner city Chattanooga elementary schools, most whites opted out and these schools remained segregated. When I graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1982, it was 50% white/black. By the time my little sister graduated in 1980, it was majority African American and before the school became an arts magnet in the 1990s, it was predominantly minority.
People leave, period. This is what I have learned. Any change seems to represent a threat for many, and they leave the school they so vehemently supported well before that threat becomes a reality. There’s no real appetite for what is perceived to be the potential of student martyrdom.
As a fifth grader I knew nothing of what was ahead. However, what I did notice was that many friends were coming to school and saying that they would not be there the next year. Chattanooga was in Hamilton County with a city and county school system. In the Spring of 1971, many Chattanooga parents prepared to leave the city schools going to private schools when affordable or changing addresses to attend the county system. This 11 year-old had no understanding why this was happening, but did know what it would mean seeing friends leave. I remember one night going into my parent’s bedroom and asking if I could go to McCallie, a well established private school, with my friends. Dad calmly said no and assured me that many of my friends would remain. I wasn’t reassured because it seemed that friends were telling me about their parent’s intentions on a daily basis.
Normal Park was significantly segregated with a handful of black students in 1971. Chattanooga had declared her schools integrated in the late 1960s hoping that would get the courts off of the city’s back. I was not really concerned about going to school with blacks. By this time, I was about to participate in my third year of little league baseball, which was becoming more and more diverse. I just didn’t understand why families were leaving my school. What I learned then and would later experience as an educator in Charlotte, N.C. was that parents don’t really fight for their schools or act to make the best of the circumstances. The ones who can, simply leave no matter their political perspective. The breakup of a school community was not their problem. Keeping their children safe from the others was the priority.
The Confederate flag is a Christian symbol dating back to the 12th century 1286 in Scotland. All Confederate flags and statues need to go back up and left alone. Black lives matter, black panthers and naacp are all hate groups and have no business in America. They are all terrorist, un-American, anti-American communist. Blacks need to go to Africa.
Lastly, I get so tired of the left democrats trying to compare the Confederate flag to a Nazi flag. There is a big difference ,Hitler back in 1935 did not want anything to do with the Confederate flag or choose to use it because Hitler need it represents FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE, SOVEREIGNTY,STATE RIGHTS, CONFEDERATION, AND A CHRISTIAN SYMBOL.
Natural instinct is to be segregated among your own race. All the problems we have in America is due to force integration. You can not mate a moose with a deer even though the are both animals. The same for humans. UN section two forbids racial genocide. Two different races won’t get along it won’t work. You can not f–k with DNA and genetics, The genes don’t blend smooth and do like its suppose to unless you stay with your own race. Race mixing is wrong, ant-christian and evil. YOU CAN NOT PLAY GOD BY RACE MIXING KILLING YOUR RACE.