Harris Backs Away From Busing As A Federal Mandate After Biden Attack (Huffpost)

do nothing -- preserving separate, but unequal, schools right into 2020.


"Biden has insisted he only opposed busing ordered by the federal Education Department, and said allowing local governments and school districts to implement busing was “one of the things I argued for” at the time."

You weren't around during the 1970s. I was. Forced busing didn't ameliorate segregation. Forced busing WORSENED segregation.

Parents don't want their kids to get up before dawn to take an hour long (maybe two-hour long) bus ride to the worst school imaginable. Plain and simple. When forced to deal with that situation, parents will move to a new district. Like it or not, that's what happens. Nothing can stop it. You can scream "Racist!" all you want, but nothing can stop it. The Supreme Court ruled a long time ago that kids cannot be bused outside of their school district. And it's not as though you'll get a different deal from THIS Supreme Court.

Talk to someone who lived through the 1970s. At that time, the post-Nixon era, the Republican party was on the ropes. People were talking about a Democratic stranglehold on the White House for decades. What turned it around? To a large degree, it was busing. People HATED busing. There were riots. Busing gave us the Reagan revolution.

Believe it or not, busing wasn't particularly well-liked by many of the black kids who came to my school in the San Fernando Valley as part of a voluntary busing program. I know this because I talked to them. Athletic programs and after-school clubs were a real pain (especially when away games increased the travel time). Those kids spent hours on the bus every day, and they came to hate it. Even then, traffic problems turned L.A. freeways into parking lots. The feeling of confinement, of being trapped, would drive anyone nuts.

I was a big Kamala Harris supporter until that debate. When she obstinately came out in favor of forced busing, it was the worst disappointment I've felt since election night, 2016. When she single-handedly wedded the Democratic party to that incredibly unpopular idea, she became the de facto chairwoman of the Committee to Re-Elect Donald Trump.

Harris says that busing worked for her. Well, how long was HER travel time? Maybe ten minutes, or so I've been told. Because SHE had a good experience, she wants to make kids in Los Angeles get up before dawn to travel for hours each day on freeways that are far worse than they were in the 1970s. Talk about self-absorbed! Her attitude is almost Trumpian.

And no, I do not prefer Biden. For reasons separate from this controversy, I have long believed that he must not get the nomination. I used to favor Harris. Right now, I (somewhat) lean toward Warren, though I'm keeping my options open.

It is a right wing talking point and does not belong here.

It was in use in the early 1960s, during the debate about the Civil Rights Act, when Atwater was barely a teen.

He only co-opted it.

their feet.

Here's some of the states' rights BS I remember and Biden condoned when working with segregationists:

https://psmag.com/.image/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1240/MTU0Nzg4NTg1ODAxNzg2NDk1/b197a887c90182409ab5f9a8d4699742.webp







?_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com

And make a white supremacist goal mainstream. That term should not be repeated.

It WAS forced. So why not use the correct terminology? A blinkered insistence on euphemism isn't going to make a two-hour bus trip in Los Angeles any more palatable.

And it wasn't Lee Atwater who concocted the term. Where do people come up with this ridiculous revisionist history? Atwater was unknown then, as far as the general public was concerned.

Los Angeles wasn't the south. In the 1970s, the San Fernando Valley was liberal. Working class liberals north of the boulevard, Hollywood liberals south of the boulevard. They all hated Republicans.

Until busing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/opinion/impossible-ridiculous-repugnant.html

That's a story from 2005, and it does not mention the term in question. Atwater did NOT concoct the term "forced busing." Atwater was Charlie Nobody in the early 1970s. You weren't around then, kid, so stop pretending that you knew what it was like. Typical Sanders supporter -- lying your head off in order to divide Americans. You can't invent fake history and then expect people to go along with your hallucinations.

Forced busing increased segregation. Proven. Indisputable.

From Wikipedia.

"In April 1971, in the case Bradley v. Richmond School Board, Federal District Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., ordered an extensive citywide busing program in Richmond, Virginia. When the massive busing program began in the fall of 1971, parents of all races complained about the long rides, hardships with transportation for extracurricular activities, and the separation of siblings when elementary schools at opposite sides of the city were "paired", (i.e., splitting lower and upper elementary grades into separate schools). The result was further white flight to private schools and to suburbs in the neighboring counties of Henrico and Chesterfield that were predominately white...

"The percentage of white students in Richmond city schools declined from 45 to 21 percent between 1960 and 1975 and continued to decline over the next several decades. By 2010 white students accounted for less than 9 percent of student enrollment in Richmond.[40] This so-called "white flight" prevented Richmond schools from ever becoming truly integrated."

it is to even insinuate Democrats are going to be arguing about this 40 year old issue.

Got any disparaging words of your own that you'd like to contribute?

... in less than a week.

Why anyone here would direct people there is strange.

Here is what she actually said, as stated in the article itself:



That is very different from saying she opposes federally mandated school busing. As she pointed out in the debate, sometimes the school districts refuse to do the right thing. That is when the feds must step in:

HARRIS: So, that’s where the federal government must step in.

BIDEN: The–the federal government must–

HARRIS: –That’s why we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. That’s why we need to pass the Equality Act. That’s why we need to pass the ERA because there are–

BIDEN: –That–

HARRIS: –Moments in-

HARRIS: –history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.

https://time.com/5616518/2020-democratic-debate-night-2-transcript/

Why?

that Biden "worked with segregationists" when he was only talking about how they could talk back then whereas now it is completely partisan?

And who said Biden "worked with segregationists"? It wasn't Kamala Harris.

and worked with them again busing. That was the position in general. You can't really object to parsing her words or jumping to conclusions about them when that is what happens to Biden daily.

And I agree, Biden's and all the Dem candidates' words are being parsed and misleadingly interpreted. Why is that ok here too? Can't we leave the misleading shit-stirring to HuffPo and Rushbo and not give it space here?

That is not a walk back.

This will be noticed

Then, when it created heat of "Kamala is for busing children" - because of the attack, she flip-flopped to the exact same position as Joe Biden.

Whereas Biden opposed federal action on busing. That is not the "exact same position."

Today she addressed the Biden campaign's assertion that her "tool box" statement meant she agreed with Biden:



 https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/07/04/joe-biden-kamala-harris-iowa-caucuses-2020-4th-july-busing-school-integration-debate-exchange/1647944001/

But this poster is not a troll. It's a holiday and people have things to do. Speaking of which happy 4th!

the longer any of the candidates linger on it, the more openings they give that fascist pig in the WH to use it as narrative.

Trump and his servile lackeys are good at that if nothing else.

But I agree. We need to be discussing other issues. Like healthcare. And impeaching the motherfucker.

In my frank opinion the only way to stop this swiftboat before it ruins us is to declare a Biden-Harris ticket and call it early, formally or informally. Otherwise this thing is gonna kill us.

Rev. Jesse Jackson says Harris on 'the wrong side of history' with busing

The Rev. Jesse Jackson knocked Kamala Harris for her views on busing, saying the senator is on "the wrong side of history."

No wait! He said that about Biden before Harris flip flopped and took Joe’s position.

Ah well, Jessie. We’re waiting for you to call out Kamala.

Who knew?

She just said busing should be part of the "tool box" to address segregation. She did not say she opposed the Department of Education ordering busing to desegregate schools. Biden said that.

right.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/07/04/joe-biden-kamala-harris-iowa-caucuses-2020-4th-july-busing-school-integration-debate-exchange/1647944001/

the Top tweets whether I'm searching Twitter for

biden

or

kamala harris

or

harris debate



For instance, this from Slate's Jordan Weissman:

Link to tweet

and this from Sam Metz of the Desert Sun and USA Today, commenting on a TPM tweet on Harris's backtracking

Link to tweet

and this from CNBC's John Harwood

Link to tweet

commenting on a thread from James Surowiecki (Slate, the New Yorker) that starts here

Link to tweet

that was followed by a few unlinked tweets about her waffling, ending with this tweet:

Link to tweet

I even ran across this tweet from the digital TV producer for America's Got Talent (who supports Mayor Pete, judging by his tweets):

Link to tweet

I don't think backtracking was the meme Harris was looking for, but I couldn't help noticing how often it turned up, even from people who are definitely NOT Biden supporters.

highplainsdem

Thank You!