Kaali Roberts
Dr. Brown
English 306
November 10, 2016
Analysis
“Our kids, by now you know, that they won’t go
because we won’t send them” (Carmine, 1971). A message sent to the general
audience from the white community affirming their resistance toward the
integration during the busing desegregation movement. Released in the 70’s, the
song R.O.A.R.’s Way by Dick Carmine & the Casuals, was a rendition of Frank
Sinatra’s song My Way to symbolize their stance in busing. During the 1970’s
Boston Desegregation movement, the white community actively protested the
busing of their children to the impoverished, minority areas and rejected the
integration of predominantly white schools.
Members of ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights) organized protests in
which signs such as “Stop Busing, Niggers Go Home” were waved in the streets of
Boston. As Carmine’s song is analyzed, it will clarify how it impacted the
white community and look at the different viewpoints on desegregation busing as
an African American, a White Person, and government official with these
artifacts
On the word of Carmine in
his song R.O.A.R.’s Way, “It’s time to make a resolution to do what we have to
do to save our kids from this confusion, we’ll fight” (Carmine, 1971), he sheds
light on how concentrated the group was on the goal in which they wanted to
achieve; an end to busing. The group also expresses their repugnance at the
acts of Wendell Arthur Gerrity, who was the famous federal judge who ordered
that Boston schools be desegregated. In the song, Gerrity was said to be a “big
jerk”(Carmine, 1971), who was the devil and needed to be imprisoned.
During the protest in the
white community, this song alongside the act of protest itself proved itself to
be highly successful. The aim of the protest was to end busing and in time,
that would be achieved. In an article piece written by Bruce Gellemer of WBUR,
“there were 86,000 students enrolled in Boston public schools, more than half
of them white. Today there are 54,000 students, and less than 14 percent are
white.” (Gellerman, 2014). With this form of extreme protest, the white
community were able to bring enough attention that ended forced integration due
to the “use of race as a factor in assigning students to schools” (Stout, 2004).
Taking into consideration
the emotional standpoint of the white community, white flight could have been
fueled by the song of Carmine as he sings, “It’s time to make, a resolution to
do, what we have to do to save our kids, from this confusion” (Carmine, 1971).
At all costs parents were ready to do whatever it took for their children not
to be a part of busing desegregation. Thus, many white people fled to rural
areas. In rural areas, busing was not mandatory and your child could attend
your school of choice. This song evokes rebellion from residents of Boston and
in turn, hurts other races as well as their pockets.
Although this was one of
the most popular songs of this time,
AFRICAN AMERICAN:
In the case of African
American’s during the busing desegregation the signs held up during protests,
the song’s sung and the intensity of the aggression allocated to this specific
community played a key role in articulating the identity of this paper. During
busing desegregation, the African American community were in high spirits as
the same level of education would finally be offered to them. During the early
1970’s a lot of the minorities were in the ghettos and received poor education.
Given busing desegregation, the minority were able to obtain the same quality
knowledge as the white community.
In the wake of this
movement, the African American community were glad to have an opportunity for a
better education but were not aware of the obstacles they would face. They held
signs that read, “Integration is Education” (Khan) and “Separate is not Equal”
(Dealer, 2013) to symbolize their willingness and compliancy with the movement.
As buses carried black children to schools outside of Roxbury, Boston and into
the white neighborhoods of places such as South Boston, rocks, stones, bottles
and racial slurs were hurled at African American students as the white
community awaited their arrival and their exit from the school building. The
constant message of opposition has made this form of protest a sign of racial
divide.
In regards to the R.O.A.R
chants and signs, the black community could most likely feel intimidated and
indignation by the behavior of the members of the R.O.A.R.
As stated in the
Sociological Quarterly, the goal of the busing movement was to provide black
children with a better education, “without hurting white achievement” (Adair,
1984) as well as ending racial prejudice. 70% of African Americans felt as
though the busing movement would improve the quality for blacks. Although
percentages staggered at a low 43% in 1971, (the first year in which busing
desegregation was implemented), it increased by 12% nearing the end of the
desegregation movement.
The intensity of the
protest school integration heightened after the stabbing of Michael Faith on
December 11, 1974. The news spread like wildfire hours after the incident aired
on news channels such as CNN. Various items were thrown at African American
students as well as the use of derogatory terms. The white community lay waited
them as they left the school. The same signs being discussed in the
introduction become present at the point in time. This intensifies the constant
message of opposition has made this form of protest a sign of racial divide in
1971(the beginning of busing) – 1988 (the end).
With Regard to the
Supreme Court and established by Brown. In Swann V. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board
of Education, busing became mandatory. In connection with the protest signs
held up by the oppositional white community and acts of extreme violence,
government officials such as Garrity sent out police officers to contain the
crowd. Police managed to outnumber protesters but they still proceeded to
fight.
The government stressed
their disapproval of the protest. This could be proven through the statistics
they have provided about the betterment of the black community given an
improved educational system which was one of the main goals of the movements.
Also, people in the government could be looking at this event as a means to
receive more money. With the integration of schools, also comes demolishing of
others. If the minority group is integrated with that of the white community in
suburban areas, the schools in the “ghettos” or the impoverished areas would
lower in student count which could possibly lead to the school’s nonexistence.
In this paper, I have
shown three different stand points of interpreting the song and signs of
protest in the case of desegregation busing. As the white community uses this
song as a source of voice to express their feelings toward the movement, the
black community used these artifacts as a fearsome and something that was used
to show the racial divide and unsettling feeling that most the white community
felt about the forced integration process. The Supreme Court, who also had an
important view point were affected by the usage of these artifacts because it
showed the resistance of the whites and willingness of that whole community to
flee to rural areas to avoid busing. This in turn aided in the ending of the
busing desegregation.
Works
Cited
Adair,
Alvis V. Desegregation: The Illusion of Black Progress. N.p.: U of America,
1984. Google Books. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.
Carmine,
Dick. "R.O.A.R.'s Way - Dick Carmine & The Casuals." Youtube.
Kevin McGoff, 13 Sept. 1971. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
Dealer,
Patrick O'Donnell The Plain. "The 1964 Cleveland Schools' Boycott to
Protest Segregation: Black History Month." Cleveland.com. N.p., 2013. Web.
10 Nov. 2016.
Gellerman,
Bruce. "'It Was Like A War Zone': Busing In Boston." WBUR. N.p., 04
Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
Khan,
Yasmeen. "Demand for School Integration Leads to Massive 1964 Boycott - In
New York City." WNYC. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2016.
Stout,
David. "The US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear the Case of Comfort v. the
Lynn School Committee." Parent Advocates. The E-Accountability Foundation,
Dec. 2004. Web. 10 Nov. 2016.
1) My biggest change in my paper will mostly revolve around the conclusion of my paper as I struggle with closing it. After taking to consideration the comments of my group members, I will be incorporating the implications of modern day society whilst tying that into the history of desegregation.
ReplyDeleteAs for my minor changes. I plan on making a few grammatical changes so the paper flows a little bit easier.
2) In my introduction I sought to explain what points of view I will be analyzing during busing desegregation and introducing the question of why the white community was disturbed/angered by the protest. In my conclusion I will be wrapping up everything I stated in my paper briefly while inserting the current stand point of America where desegregation between whites and blacks exist and if not, what changed that.