Do African-American students bear the burden of busing now?
A. That’s a contention held by people such as state Rep. Polly Williams, who has been a strong advocate for busing cuts, and it is probably a fair way to look at things. Architects of the school integration system of the 1970s admitted years later that they had a goal of keeping things from being too demanding for white kids, in hopes they wouldn’t leave the system, so black kids ended up with a disproportionate share of busing requirements. By the thousands, whites left anyway. And huge numbers of black kids are still riding buses. There are neighborhoods on the north side where the local school has empty seats while kids are being bused to 100 or more other schools. Q.Would cutting busing increase racial separation in schools? A. Frankly, it’s probably too late to discuss this. The MPS system is less than 13% white now, compared with more than 60% white in the mid-1970s, so there aren’t many kids to put into the integration mix. And changes in busing policies made in recent years alr
