Associated Press, July 11, 2019
This small Mississippi Delta town serves as a reminder that fierce debates over the integration of black and white students are not a thing of the past.
Two rival high schools in Cleveland, one historically black and the other historically white, had to be merged just two years ago after a judge determined that all-black student bodies in the 3,400-student district were illegal vestiges of segregation. It is one of scores of school districts around the U.S. still facing federal desegregation mandates, and the decision followed a fight over the town’s segregated schools that dates back to 1965.
The federal government’s role in integrating schools came into the national spotlight following an exchange during the 2020 Democratic presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris. The former vice president was attacked for his work as a senator in the 1970s to oppose federally-ordered busing to achieve a racial balance in schools. Harris pointed to the fact that she was a beneficiary of a busing program that allowed her to attend an integrated elementary school in California.
The clash proved to be a stumbling block for Biden’s campaign, but the debate’s focus on 1970s-era busing — when the practice was at its peak — belied the fact that federally ordered integration efforts still exist in many places.