Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: The busing issue is based on one unavoidable fact. [View all]GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)That would have had the added advantage of not totally destroying the Democratic Party among whites in the south.
First, crack down hard on informal redlining which realtors did into the 80s.
Second, federal judges mandate all schools in a district have the same quality facilities, not just funding going forward. Like I mentioned, the previous all black school I was bussed to was a train wreck. It should have been rebuilt. And no one would have bitched.
They could have allowed black kids to go to the school of their parents choice as well. But I guarantee you had their neighborhood school been rebuilt to the quality of the white schools they would have chosen that option. Because those black kids hated bussing as much as I did. And it totally wrecked their neighborhood school since more of them were bussed. 2 busses from every white elementary school took kids to the traditional black school. EVERY one of those busses took black kids to white schools. At least for 4 year kids in my neighborhood went to their neighborhood schools. For black kids they were bussed 4 of 6 years. Had to meet the quotas, to hell with the results on the children.
Those 3 things would have actually solved the problem and we would still have a majority in the south. Not of whites, certainly, but in the district I came up in Blacks made up 35%.
A Federal Judge in St. Louis managed our case. Kids like me paid the price and our parents saw it. Bussing set me back academically for 3 years. Not the quality of the teachers, but the feeling of being so alienated. For young children putting them in a foreign, strange place with no friends or family is emotionally devastating. Sound familiar with todays news?
I readily admit bussing was a well meant solution to an intractable problem. But it put the toll on innocent young children. Several other DU members who were bussed have agreed.
This issue scares more than any other. I will vote for the candidates who most strongly says forced bussing was the wrong way to solve the problem.
Unless you were involved in this bullshit you really dont know how devastating it was. It still scars me and many others.
Sorry for the rant. But 45 years later the experience still pisses me off. No young kid should go through that. I sure as hell would not let a child of mine.
Ironically, my parents were Democrats who favored integration. My dad fled the rural south against his fathers wishes to escape the oppression.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden