African American reaction to Lafayette Parish School desegregation order: From Delight to disenchantment

Journal of Negro Education, The, Winter 2002 by Caldas, Stephen J, Growe, Roslin, Bankston, Carl L III

Some parents' threats to pull their children from the public schools may not have been empty. Official parish enrollment counts for the 1999-2000 school year indicated that there were approximately 700 fewer White students than the previous year, though the system actually showed an increase of 375 Black students. Our interviews with parents, teachers, and officials in parochial schools indicated that White students were indeed moving out of public schools in response to the new desegregation efforts. One teacher at a Lafayette Catholic high school, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, as she feared being fired by the Catholic diocese if her comments were known, told the authors, "It's no problem with us. Our school benefits whenever the school board tinkers with the system and Whites leave the public schools" (anonymous, personal communication, October 29, 1998). We spoke with a White parent who had moved to Lafayette from another part of Louisiana, who confessed that he had intentionally bought a house in a school district with a mostly White student body: "I hate to say it," he said, "but it's true. The schools where the Black kids are are bad schools and the schools where the White kids are are good schools" (anonymous, personal communication, August 24, 1997). However, enrollment figures indicate that contrary to what was happening in the White community, there was no "Black flight" from the school system. This would suggest differing attitudes among African Americans, a point we examine more carefully in the following section.

In May 2000, a momentous decision was handed down by the new federal district court judge, Judge Richard Haik, who took over jurisdiction of the case. Haik ruled that the system was in violation of the 1967 court order to desegregate (Trahan et al. v. Lafayette Parish School Board et al. Civil action No. 10,903, Judge Haik). There was an immediate reaction close to chaos in the White community at the prospect of having their schools dismantled and their children bused. "A definite panic is going on! I go to church, shopping, to school, and all parents talk about are getting job transfers, leaving the system, and home schooling!" declared one university instructor (M. Neff, personal communication, May 22, 2000). Several parents' meetings were held in predominantly White "South Lafayette" where parents strenuously protested against the judge's court order. Though meetings also were held in the Black communities of "North Lafayette," they did not echo with cries to "appeal" the court order. Indeed, at a standing-room-only board meeting attended by one of the authors within days of the court order, there were very few African Americans in attendance and most of the Whites present waived yellow signs demanding that the board "appeal" the judge's order to a higher court. One Black parent in attendance lamented, "I was appalled at the vast number of 'them' and the very few number of 'us' in attendance. My count was nine of us, inside that is, excluding law enforcement officers" (Tatman, 2000, p. 3).