Education issues almost never make it into the presidential debates, but one created a flashpoint in the last Democratic primary debate. Instead of tuition-free college or raising teacher pay, it was the unlikely topic of busing. Even if it was only a savvy bit of debate theatre by Kamala Harris designed to take Biden down a few pegs, I’m glad it was a topic that cuts to the core of racism, inequity, and segregation in our education system rather than one of the many impossible-for-the-president-to-implement ideas that have been floated.
The debate has brought the topic back into the news, so work by academics and journalists school segregation and integration strategies like busing have enjoyed renewed coverage. Education and civil rights historians are having a moment. Busing is a multifaceted topic, so the best writing out there includes all angles: inequity, segregation, politics, racism at the root of the problem, and racism that fueled resistance to busing as a solution.
For instance, on Monday, scholars Matthew Delmont and Jeanne Theoharis recentered the busing discussion on the real issue — segregated schools — and refused to let Democrats off the hook for the lack of progress since Brown v. Board:
But despite its prominence in recent debate, busing was never actually the issue. The real issue was the pervasive and damaging segregation that existed in schools throughout the country and whether all schools would actually desegregate. And with their slippery positions on desegregation, Harris and Biden expose the longtime cowardice of the Democratic Party in dealing with school segregation, particularly outside the South.
Liberals express outrage at federal judges nominated by President Trump who refuse to say whether Brown v. Board was correctly decided, yet Democrats, both historically and in the present, have been largely unwilling to take concrete steps to fulfill Brown’s legal and moral mandate of equal education, so as not to alienate their local white constituencies. As such, school desegregation has long been a third-rail issue for liberal politicians.
Below are a few more pieces that I think are worth your time. Drop your recommendations in the comments.
- Schools are still segregated 65 years after Brown. Gary Orfield has the report.
- Matt Barnum does what Matt Barnum does: distilling the research, this time on the effects of busing. Lots of good links.
- Delmont again. This time in the Atlantic with a focus on Berkeley’s desegregation plan.
- This 2015 Atlantic article by Alana Semuels about desegregation efforts in Louisville is long but worth the read.
- Pulitzer Prizes went to stories about busing in Boston and resegregation in Pinellas County, Florida. (h/t Matt Barnum)
- Busing is just one way to integrate schools. Dana Goldstein has a Twitter thread on integration methods that aren’t busing.
- It often seems like San Antonio’s Mohammed Choudhury thinks of nothing else but integrating schools.
- UPDATED 7/12/19 – Nikole Hannah-Jones brings the heat in this NYT piece.
And lastly, both “busing” and “bussing” are acceptable spellings of the word. “Bussing” is antiquated but not incorrect. “Busing” is more popular. “Bus” is short for “omnibus.” The word “buss” is a synonym for “kiss.”
– Guest post by Jason Weeby