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

The second most common theme, aired by four interviewees, related to the school board. Universally negative responses, the board was referred to as "racist," by one, their actions "shameful" by another. Yet another respondent stated she was "outraged" by the board's action (or inaction), referring to it as "racism."

The third most commonly occurring response, made by 3 respondents, dealt with the concern of Black children potentially being treated poorly by White teachers (perhaps the reason an earlier-mentioned respondent did not want her children in White schools). This concern was succinctly put by a security guard who stated, "My greatest fear is that our African American students will be treated unfairly by the White teachers who disagree with Judge Haik's decision." Another respondent added, "Some Black parents feel that if a White teacher is being told that they have to teach Black students, they won't be as eager to do so."

Other issues mentioned included discipline problems in schools (2) and teacher pay (2). Though it may have been somewhat implied by the tone of several responses, one characteristic that united the vast majority of responses was the lack of racial invective. In other words, the responses, though often adamant about the point or points they were trying to make, avoided racially inflammatory comments. Indeed, one response stands out because it was such an exception to the rule, though even this anonymous respondent (who was a teacher and graduate student) did not use excessively virulent language when he stated, "I'm so glad that these White bastards are upset. Let them stay mad."

Reactions from the Black Community after Desegregation Plan Implementation. Following the initial desegregation order of May 2000, Judge Haik oversaw the details of a consent decree in late June 2000, wherein all parties to the desegregation suit agreed to certain desegregation measures. These measures included the closing of two Black schools, busing those children to five predominantly White schools, and transferring teachers and principals based on race. The plan was implemented in August 2000. This was barely a month after the decree was finalized and only three months after the initial court order to which there seemed to be such strong agreement in the African American community. At the end of September and the beginning of October, our coauthor readministered our openended questionnaire to 76 additional middle and upper middle-class Black individuals in the community. This was an admittedly larger number of respondents and comparisons between the two groups should be viewed with caution. However, the differences between the two groups' responses were so striking that we believe a clear shift of opinion in the Black community had taken place in the intervening three months. Additional anecdotal data, such as newspaper editorials and comments we heard from community Blacks in our normal interactions tended to confirm what our survey results strongly pointed to increasing African American disenchantment with the desegregation experiment.