Lynn Massachusetts (Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin - you never go out the way you came in) seems to be the first test case for the new challenge of re-segregating America. The Justices June 28 ruling could effect up to 20 different districts in Massachusetts including the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, which has bused minority students to affluent suburban schools since 1966.
Lynn has a desegregation plan and lawyers for parents who have been challenging the desegregation plan for eight years filed briefs late Tuesday. That is five days I believe; as Newman said on Seinfeld: "What took ya so long." Yesterday, Patricia M. Capano, a school committee member, said Lynn officials were waiting to hear how state Attorney General Martha Coakley would interpret the Supreme Court decision. The Attorney General spokesperson had no comment.
Watch the flood of cases that overwhelms the courts. This is a tragedy. Lynn's current plan affects its 18 public elementary schools, which draw from small pockets of the district, more than its three high schools, said Capano. "It's a balanced system right now," Capano said. "Our neighborhoods are sometimes very cultural- and very race-oriented. So, if you keep a very low-economic neighborhood going to the same school, then you get an unbalanced school -- and that's what we fear."
We should all fear that, but we don't. We fear being asked to actually do something for the greater good, to do something for our neighbors and our community. Instead we want what is best for ourselves and who cares about our neighbors. Ask not what you can do for your country, ask how you can roll back 50+ years of integration. Easy, appoint two ultra conservatives to the court. It doesn't take a majority anymore just the right people in high places.
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