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jerry/corpus christi texas — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:49:22 GMT

I guess The supreme court and Hillary Clinton will be good friends NOT! Yanking kids out of their neighborhood schools and shipping them across town does nobody any good.

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New Independent — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:16:54 GMT

It depends what neighborhood you happen to live in Jerry. And that's the point!

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Mark T — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:17:36 GMT

We've been practically ignoring Brown vs. Board of Education for a long , long time, sure the occasional argument erupts when children are bused or something, but as before Brown it's just de-facto that there are predominantly black and white schools. The predominantly black schools spend much more per child and somehow get much less on outcome for a variety of reasons - mostly unrelated to the children but that the children come from already disadvantaged situations and focus on meaningless testing regimines, it's sad but true, but it's great to say a child will achieve the goal of X without ensuring they have been provided the opportunities to learn X, which is the heart of the problem.

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Paul Miller, Woodbridge, VA — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:31:00 GMT

The one thing Hillary can't do, despite all her abilities and best intentions, is build a "more unified America." I realize she was talking about racial relations as opposed to the partisan divide, but coming from her... that just sounds dumb. The second thing she can't do is win the general election, so the first is a moot point.

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John B, Mokena — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:52:32 GMT

Busing failed miserably over 25 years ago resulting in white flight and more segregation.

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Shane, Salt Lake City, UT — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:54:19 GMT

It sounds to me like Hillary is just spitting out a bunch of rhetoric. I wonder if she even read the cases, especially the one arising in Seattle. They weren't disputing diversity was good, but that it shouldn't be just white or non-white. Schools who had 25% white, 25% asian, 25% black and 25% hispanic would not have been considered diverse because there was so many more non-whites. This shouldn't just be about black and white, but equality for all.

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Jennifer Roberts, Orlando, fl — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:55:02 GMT

I work hard and make a good wage so that I can live in a nice neighborhood and can send my child to good schools. The day they ship my kid across town to go to school, is the day I will send them to private schools.

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David — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:56:00 GMT

If you rip a kid out of a neighborhood that his or her parents selected specifically for the school system it belongs to - and send that kid to another district because you need more "diversity" in that district. That is facism. It completely ignores the rights and will of the parents.

I support this decision. Making decisions based upon race is racist, by definition.

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MK,MO — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:02:14 GMT

bussing has proven to be misrable failure, why anyone would think that resurecting such a looney program would be in the best interest of anyone is beyond any reason, things like hillary's remarks on this issue is what will ensure she won't receive any votes in mid america

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juan,ft lauderdale,fl — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:20:46 GMT

What's the moral of the story folks is that we have been and always will be a racist's,sexist and ethnocentric country. Only Anglo-Saxon Protestant need to apply. What do you expect from a Bush majority supreme court. He was spawned from the women who said that the Katrina Afro-Americans victims were better off after than before. YOU RIGHT-WINGERS HAVE THE AUDACITY TO CALL LIBERALS NORTH EASTERNERS AS ELISTISTS.

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Sierra, San Francisco — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:37:47 GMT

Actually, a good response by Hillary. School integration is a sensitive (and nuanced) subject. The courts ended race concious scholl assignments in San Francisco, As a result, schools are re-segregating. Cleraly, this is not good. However, I must admit, that I (middle class parent) managed to get my daughters into schools in rich neighborhoods to get the best education. In San Francisco, this actually means schools that are heavily Asian, with some white kids and few Black or Hispanic kids. In the end, I opted for better performing schools (i.e. scholls in rich neighborhoods).

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MK,MO — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:38:57 GMT

juan,ft lauderdale,fl / speak for yourself juan, the politically correct crowd may send you a gold star, but bussing kids around to keep the racial mix optimum never worked and never will, it's one of those programs that is done just so you can say your addressing an issue with complete disregard as to whether it is effective or not

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John B, Des Moines, IA — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:39:32 GMT

The Louisville case dealt specifically with children open-enrolled OUT of their neighborhood schools, so talk of white flight and forced busing are just so much smoke and mirrors. Oh, and fascism is the combination of authoritarian rule with, as Mussolini said, the perfect marriage of state and business with each working to benefit the other at all times. Sounds more like Dick Cheney's ideal government.

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jerry/corpus christi texas — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:44:19 GMT

When they introduced busing in corpus christi back in the 70's, the line spilt my neighborhood in two and what was worse, i went to the neighborhood school and my friend next door went to a school way over on the other side of town. After an emergency meeting with the judge, they re-drew the boundries and put the line at the end of the street, so everybody on my street ended up at our neighborhood school. I'm still trying to figure out what good busing a bunch of people across town does for racial equality.

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H P Boston — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:04:26 GMT

No wonder you kept missing the bus jerry, you do not
know where to draw the line!

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Russell in Maryland — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:05:00 GMT

John B, Mokena & MK,MO maybe you have firsthand knowledge of the miserable failure of bussing? I have firsthand knowledge of the success. Back in 1966 my high school and school district in southern Louisiana was de-segregated. It was a rural area and everyone was being bussed to school anyway -- too far to walk. The substandard black schools were closed and the superior white schools were expanded and the black students and teachers were re-assigned to the white schools. In most cases the blacks were bussed shorter distances. I never heard of one instance of protest or strife. On the first day of de-segregated school it was like it had always been that way. I think a key difference is that though many facilities were segregated, blacks and whites were living in close proximity rather than widely separated and defacto segregated communities.

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Ollie frenchburg ky — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:05:11 GMT

Sierra SF, I hope you can remain middle class for the rest of your life, or move up, because I still believe that the Repubs want a two class society.

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Gerry, Anchorage, Alaska — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:05:17 GMT

School integration misses the entire point. Growing up in Boston (yes, I'm from South Boston - go ahead and utter the inevitable "racist" comment now so I can get on with my point - good, thank you), I saw firsthand the strife that forced busing causes. It's a mess and it doesn't work. The only thing that results from forced busing is white flight from the destination schools, which, ironically, leads to resegregated schools again, just in different neighbourhoods. Building on Russell's point, I believe the best way to integrate schools is to integrate the neighbourhoods in which the schools reside, and the best way to do that is to try and strengthen the local schools in primarily minority areas so that students there are competitive with other school districts and get the tools to succeed from their education. Another facet to this problem is the stigmatization of school achievment in many minority inner city communities. Kids are often socially penalized for doing well academically. While not an Obama supporter, I give him much credit for taking a stand and addressing this both as a political candidate and as a black man. We need more voices like that.

Admittedly, it seems a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario to say that the best way to integrate schools is to integrate neighbourhoods, and the best way to do that is to provide a better educational base that leads to more economic prosperity. Nevertheless, vexing though it is, I think this is the answer. Maybe we don't yet know what the best solution is for making minority schools and students more competent and successful, but we do know what it is not: forced integration, which only leads to resegregation and is by all reasonable accounts a total failure.

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jerry/corpus christi texas — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:12:22 GMT

How are you middle class in San franscisco????? The taxes and expenses to live there.....Must be utter hell to live in that city

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Acid Boy, AZ — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:21:03 GMT

I went to 5 different grammar schools in 8 years and I got a great education no matter where I went. The key was making the best of the opportunity where you were. My parents stressed getting an education no matter where it happened. The Supreme Court has just said that it hates n@#*&rs, beans, spics, chinks, etc. and the biggest one on the Court who has benefitted the most from affirmativew action is Clarence (I didn't put the pube on the Coke can) Thomas. Th majority on this case should be ashamed of themselves.

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John B, Des Moines, IA — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:23:54 GMT

Russell, I have no firshand knowledge of busing, just wanted to make the point that the cases being decided had nothing to do with forced busing. Because of that all of the whining about busing is a diversion from the main points of the case. Personally I believe anything that ends the pretending that "separate but equal" actually works and teaches people at a young age that it's idiotic to believe some people are better than others simply due to skin tone is a positive. I grew up in a small town district where some kids were on the bus for an hour just because they lived at the far end of the route. A little bus ride didn't hurt them. On the other hand I had Egyptian neighbors on 9/11/2001 whose religion was Eastern Orthodox Christian. Their accent and skin color caused them no end of greif thanks to the bigots and hate-mongers...and they're probably among the most devout Christians I've met in my life. And some of the warmest and best people.

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Sierra, San Francisco — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:05:17 GMT

Ollie, I agree with you. A lot of middle class jobs have been outsourced. Manufacturing came first. good union jobs. But, now it's technical jobs (like my old one, computer programming) that are being outsourced. Remember Ross Perot and his "giant sucking sound"? He was right. Clinton/Gore and the media sold us out on NAFTA, globalization and de-regulation. Ollie, we can't blame it all on the Republicans !! Let's find a REAL DEMOCRAT this time. jerry: compared to where I came from (Los Angeles), it's paradise. Especially for kids. My wife and I are cheap and we bought our house ages ago. Now, it's worth 5 or 6 times what we paid for it !! If you live within your means, you'll always get by. You shold visit jerry, travel broadens the mind.

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Steve C., Cleveland, Ohio — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:20:36 GMT

It's disappointing that the first words out of Senator Clinton's mouth on this matter represent a disrespect of the rule of law.

Last time I checked, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of what is and isn't legal -- not the Senator.

What I expect out my elected officials is that they enforce the law with vigor. Senator Clinton seems to believe that she has some inalienable right to follow some laws and not others.

Too bad she's forgotten what she presumably learned in law school.

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Bruce L, Colorado Springs, CO — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:25:56 GMT

Mark T: "The predominantly black schools spend much more per child"
That isn't true, at least if you look at urban vs. suburban schools. The suburban (mostly white) schools are typically 25 percent and sometimes 100 percent better funded.

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Still Crazy After All These Years — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:25:50 GMT

"Strange Fruit"-Billy Holliday;"Billy's Bones"-Janis Ian

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jerry/corpus christi texas — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:33:40 GMT

Don't think so Sierra. Gorilla racing kind of scared me. We have a couple down the street, sold their 4 bedroom 2 bath for over a million bucks in california. Bought a five bedroom, 3 bath with a view of the bay for $255,000. She retired and he works at the army depot. They are from San Franscisco and they have never enjoyed life the way they are enjoying it now in texas.