Public Opinion and School Desegregation

Abstract

Media reports and social commentators often assume that whites, African Americans, and Latinos are now uniformly disenchanted with racial integration. Mean -while, recent Supreme Court rulings that allow for the termination of school desegregation plans may lead communities to consider entering a court battle to end such plans. It is therefore increasingly important that community leaders have the facts about what the public and parents and students affected by desegregation actually believe. Public opinion surveys reveal a reality of public opinion on desegregation far more nuanced and complicated and far more positive than media reports and common assumptions would have us believe.