School segregation: A realist’s view

The nation’s greatest anti-racist education policy — school desegregation — has proven no match for the adaptations of institutionalized racism. Over the last 40 years, school segregation has evolved and reemerged in housing patterns, school zoning policy, and curricular tracking. This has led to calls for new solutions to the problem of racial segregation in schools. Is it possible, however, that the pursuit of such solutions is a form of avoidance, an unwillingness to face the intractable nature of institutionalized racism? Jerry Rosiek considers the power of pessimism about racial justice as a stance for educators in an era of resegregating schools