busing

On a wintry morning in 1964, Hubert “Hubie” Jones stood outside bundled in a peacoat, gloves and a fedora, with his toddler son in his arms. Next to him was a school bus with a large banner reading “Newtonites Support Freedom Stayout” in all caps pasted on its side.

On a frigid morning in 1964, students crowded into the assembly hall at St. Mark’s Social Center in Roxbury. Bundled in winter coats and boots, some students wore excited smiles while others stayed straight-faced, waiting. Outside, school buses carrying suburban students waited among piles of snow.

The city of Boston is approaching a 50-year milestone. We are about to observe  the anniversary of school desegregation.

No one old enough to have been in Boston during the school discrimination of the 1970s would be likely to support the return of the elected school committee. Back then, the school committee functioned as a bigoted bloc to prevent the mayor from complying with the laws that opposed racial discrimination in education.