{"id":48786,"date":"2019-07-24T14:12:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T21:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=48786"},"modified":"2019-07-24T14:12:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T21:12:57","slug":"the-supreme-court-decision-that-kept-suburban-schools-segregated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-supreme-court-decision-that-kept-suburban-schools-segregated\/","title":{"rendered":"The Supreme Court decision that kept suburban schools segregated"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Youngsters head for a school bus in Berkeley, California on Feb. 24, 1970, where a busing program tomix black and white youngsters has been working for 18 months with apparent decline in opposition in this hometown of Black Panther leaders Bobb Seale and Huey P. Newton. Superintendent of schools, Dr. Richard L. Foster says a survey before busing indicated a 50 per cent opposition to the program, but most recent estimates are only 30 per cent. (AP Photo\/RWK)<\/p><\/div>
\nAmerica recently marked the 65-year anniversary of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in\u00a0Brown v. Board of Education<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a landmark case intended to abolish the \u201cseparate-but-equal\u201d doctrine of racial segregation in schools.<\/p>\n

But the\u00a0racial makeup of today\u2019s schools<\/a>\u00a0actually owes itself to a series of other court decisions \u2013 including one issued 45 years ago on July 25, 1974. The\u00a0Milliken v. Bradley decision<\/a>\u00a0sanctioned a form of segregation that has allowed suburbs to escape being included in court-ordered desegregation and busing plans with nearby cities.<\/p>\n

The Milliken decision recognized\u00a0\u201cde facto\u201d segregation<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 segregation that occurs as a result of circumstances, not law. This allowed schools in the North to maintain racially separate schools at the same time southern schools were being ordered by the courts to desegregate. By giving suburbs a pass from large mandated desegregation attempts, it built a figurative wall around white flight enclaves, essentially shielding them from the \u201ccrisis\u201d of urban education.<\/p>\n