More than a quarter-century ago, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971), the Supreme Court approved busing of school children to achieve racial integration. A federal court in the North Carolina school district recently terminated the busing program, bringing an end to one of the most tumultuous chapters in American constitutional law and social policy. Looking back, one must unfortunately conclude that, however well intentioned, busing was not worth the pain, violence and social upheaval that resulted.
In the decades since Swann, busing has been used extensively by school boards throughout the country with mixed, and often highly incendiary, results.
