Milliken v. Bradley - 45 years ago today

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Milliken v. Bradley decision. It is interesting that candidate Harris brought up the busing issue to challenge candidate Biden recently. As predicted at the time, the Detroit school district lost many white students. There has been change in the suburbs. The Southfield and Oak Park districts now have largely African American enrollments but in many other suburban
districts numerous African American students attend schools with white students. There appears to be considerably more
school integration now than in 1974 because of the suburban movement of the middle class African American population.

Busing was a bad tactic to achieve the stated goal of racial integration.

A noble idea that proved to be disastrous for neighborhoods.

Mom and Dad didn’t want their child on a bus for two hours everyday when a school is right down the block.

What I saw was a neighborhood disintegrate. It could have been because of racists but I saw it as a logistical problem.

Before busing the local elementary school operated as the social hub of the neighborhood. After school programs were huge between scouting, sports, fundraisers like picnics and carnivals. They showed movies outside in the summer and on the gym wall in the winter.

When busing came in all that stopped. There were no sports programs because the children were all in busses. The parents didn’t hang out watching their kids because the kids weren’t playing. When the parents aren’t rubbing shoulders, they don’t have bridge parties or schedule dances or hangout with each other.

Pretty soon the societal glue that was the school lost its relevance because you can’t get stuck if you ain’t there.

Instead of building cohesion busing tore neighborhoods apart and dissolved the social bonds that make a neighborhood a good place to raise a family.