Hey Harris: Bus You!

In last week's debate Kamala Harris attacked Joe Biden for opposing forced busing. Breitbart:

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing,” Harris told Biden in what was the night’s signature moment. “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me. So, I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.”

For foreign and younger readers who are wondering what the hell Harris is talking about, forced busing was the attempt by the courts to desegregate public schools by busing students away from their own local schools to schools across town.

Segregated schools were enshrined by the 1897 Plessy vs Ferguson case which OK'd 'separate but equal' schools.

The forced busing battles raged throughout the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s. The practice destroyed entire school districts. The Boston case is the most notorious but there were hundreds of others.

In the prog imagination forced busing involved bringing black kids to white schools, ala Little Rock but more often involved busing white kids to black schools.

Nobody liked forced busing then, nobody likes it now. This from 1999. Eighty-two percent want to stay put.

When asked if Harris still supports forced busing a spokesmen replied, 'Yes.'

By the way, Powerline* reports Ms. Harris's own school integration story is...exaggerated?...embellished?:

It seems clear that Harris would have attended an integrated school absent busing. The Times describes Harris’s neighborhood as “more diverse [and] less affluent” than the neighborhood to which she was bused. Because the neighborhood was racially diverse, the local school would have been too. As I had speculated, busing was not required for Harris to attend a racially integrated school.

This is not quite Hillary dodging snipers on the Tarmac, yet. 

Harris has created a major headache for herself. We can't wait till she's asked if, as president, she'll issue executive orders on forced busing. This will go on for weeks and will help define her for the general. The dumpster dive on her story should be fun too!

*No excuse for not reading Powerline. None.