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School desegregation and "forced" busing first brought people to the barricades during the 1960s and 1970s, and the idea continues to spark controversy today whenever it is proposed. A quiet rage smolders in hundreds of public school systems, where court- ordered busing plans have been in place for over twenty years. Intended to remedy the social and educational disadvantages of minorities, desegregation policy has not produced any appreciable educational gains, while its political and social costs have been considerable. Now, on the fortieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's epic decision, Brown v. Board of Education, the legal and social justifications for school desegregation are ripe for reexamination.In Forced Justice, David J. Armor explores the benefits and drawbacks of voluntary and involuntary desegregation plans, especially those in communities with "magnet" schools. He finds that voluntary plans, which let parents decide which school program is best for their children, are just as effective in attaining long-term desegregation as mandatory busing, and that these plans generate far greater community support. Armor concludes by proposing a new policy of "equity" choice, which draws upon the best features of both the desegregation and choice movements. This policy promises both improved desegregation and greater educational choices for all, especially for the disadvantaged minority children in urban systems who now have the fewest educational choices.The debate over desegregation policy and its many consequences needs to move beyond academic journals and courtrooms to a larger audience. In addition to educators and policymakers, Forced Justice will be an important book for social scientists, attorneys and specialists in civil rights issues, and all persons concerned about the state of public education.
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FORCED JUSTICE This page intentionally left blank FORCED JUSTICE School Desegregation and the Law DAVID J. ARMOR New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1995 Oxford University Press Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay Calcutta Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madras Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi Paris Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1995 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Armor, David J. Forced justice : school desegregation and the law /David J. Armor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-509012-8 1. Segregation in education—Law and legislation—United States. I. Title. KF4155.A87 1995 344.73'0798—dc20 [347.304798] 94-13497 35798642 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Preface It was my intention to write a book on school desegregation more than a decade ago, and I actually began work on it in 1978. It seemed to be the right time, in that the national controversy over "forced busing" had peaked, and it appeared that the issue would fade away over the next several years. Other commitments intruded, however, and the book was set aside. The long delay would prove fortuitous because the busing issue did not disappear; indeed, many important events occurred in the desegregation field throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Given these developments, coupled with further personal experiences and the maturation of my own views,