Segregation

[sheshe2]

Central was not just a renowned local high school. It was one of the South's signature integration success stories. In 1979, a federal judge had ordered the merger of the city's two largely segregated high schools into one. The move was clumsy and unpopular, but its consequences were profound. Within a few years, Central emerged as a powerhouse that snatched up National Merit Scholarships and math-competition victories just as readily as it won trophies in football, track, golf. James Dent's daughter Melissa graduated from Central in 1988, during its heyday, and went on to become the first in her family to graduate from college.

snip//

The reason for the decline of Central's homecoming parade is no secret. In 2000, another federal judge released Tuscaloosa City Schools from the court-ordered desegregation mandate that had governed it for a single generation. Central had successfully achieved integration, the district had argued—it could be trusted to manage that success going forward.

Freed from court oversight, Tuscaloosa's schools have seemed to move backwards in time. The citywide integrated high school is gone, replaced by three smaller schools. Central retains the name of the old powerhouse, but nothing more. A struggling school serving the city's poorest part of town, it is 99 percent black. D'Leisha, an honors student since middle school, has only marginal college prospects. Predominantly white neighborhoods adjacent to Central have been gerrymandered into the attendance zones of other, whiter schools.

Tuscaloosa's schools today are not as starkly segregated as they were in 1954, the year the Supreme Court declared an end to separate and unequal education in America. No all-white schools exist anymore—the city's white students generally attend schools with significant numbers of black students. But while segregation as it is practiced today may be different than it was 60 years ago, it is no less pernicious: in Tuscaloosa and elsewhere, it involves the removal and isolation of poor black and Latino students, in particular, from everyone else. In Tuscaloosa today, nearly one in three black students attends a school that looks as if Brown v. Board of Education never happened.

In Tuscaloosa today, nearly 1 in 3 black students attends a school that looks as if Brown v. Board of Education never happened.

So much more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/segregation-now-the-resegregation-of-americas-schools#intro

The stories go on and on at the link.

[ShrimpPoboy]

1. From my experience, Id say this story could be written about any southern city

We have a long way to go.

[gollygee]

3. Northern schools too

At least in Michigan. Gov. Snyder came up with this nifty idea called "schools of choice." It has had its desired effect - schools are pretty well re-segregated.

[wildeyed]

2. The schools in my city are re-segregated.

They changed the busing requirements, neighborhood schools, blah, blah. It is another lesson in why ALL elections matter. It was enlightening to me when a white woman I thought was very liberal mentioned to me in passing that she wouldn't send her son to a school that was not majority white. I was confused at the time as to why that would be an issue. I am less naive now

Another serious problem is just the sheer number of kids living in poverty. The numbers go up and up. There is only so much schools can do when society is willing to tolerate that.

I went to majority-black, integrated schools for much of my early education. It was a positive experience. I now send my own kids to schools with similar demographics and it is good for them too. Studies confirm that white kids in integrated schools do better than similar kids at all white schools. So now we know that ALL kids do better in integrated schools. And yet we are still having the same arguments in 2016. My district is trying to do better and all of the same dog whistles are back... Forced busing, neighborhood schools

I am glad this issue is back on the radar. It is a thing we need to keep fighting for.