This piece was contributed by a Brooklyn high school student.
June 27, 2019: Night two of the Democratic Presidential Debate held in Miami, Florida.
That debate sparked the topic of school segregation amongst the public once again. It all started when California Senator Kamala Harris stated, "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me."
That statement was targeted at Joe Biden, the Democratic front-runner at the time. Biden was one of the many political leaders in the 1970s who opposed busing and voted to cut federal funding on busing. In a 1970s interview. At the time Biden said: "The new integration plans being offered are really just quota systems to assure a certain number of Blacks, Latinos, or whatever in each school."
That, to me, is the most racist concept you come up with. When asked after the debate about his position on busing and school segregation, Biden claimed he only opposed forced busing and had no opposition to voluntary busing programs, according to the Washington Post Biden's spokesperson also said: "He never thought busing was the best way to integrate schools in Delaware — a position which most people now agree with."
This encounter between the two democratic presidential candidates, not only overpowered the country, but it also revealed the severity of school segregation to the public once again.
That same day, Kamala Harris tweeted a picture of her young self with the caption "There was a little girl in California who was bused to school. That little girl was me," the same statement she had said during the Democratic Presidential Debate. Her statement also assured her attack on Biden was planned.
However, as these two cleared their point of view on school segregation and busing, Americans realized segregation in schools is still an existing issue that has been hidden by political leaders of both parties.
Today, I speak about this issue to spread awareness among the youngsters, not only in America, but around the world. You are the future and you have the power to combat school segregation more than anyone else!
