The discussion of Biden and school desegregation is missing context [View all]

[jberryhill]

What people don't seem to realize about politicians is that their "views" on various topics are more frequently driven by the necessities of maintaining office than any particular principles.

The University of Delaware did not admit black students until 1971. Biden graduated in 1965. Prior to that, despite the "hardscrabble roots" story, by the time his father was running a successful auto dealership in Wilmington, Biden attended what is, for this area, a relatively upscale private school.

After the assassination of MLK Jr., the upheaval in Wilmington led to the longest military occupation of a US city since the civil war. Longstanding redlining practices strictly segregated the neighborhoods of New Castle County generally. For most of white suburban New Castle County, African Americans simply did not exist in their neighborhoods, parks or stores.

(one thing to understand about Delaware is that while it consists of three counties, there northern county of New Castle is by far the most populous, and is essentially a proxy for "greater Wilmington" )

While a 1954 court decision required the desegregation of Delaware's schools, this was easily routed-around by the creation of separate school districts which tracked the boundaries of racially-segregated communities in New Castle County.

Biden was elected in a post-Watergate Democratic wave against a doddering incumbent. Holding that seat, in a state which straddles the Mason Dixon Line, was almost immediately challenged by the law catching up to the area's dodge of effective desegregation in the 1950's and 1960's. Filed in 1971, the case of Evans v. Buchanan, addressing Delaware's continued de-facto segregation, became a piece of civil litigation trench warfare which, after various appeals, remands and protracted attempts to resolve, eventually resulted in virtually direct administration of the New Castle County schools by the US District Court of Delaware.

There was no way that Joe Biden was going to be re-elected in 1978 without his usual attempt to be all things to everyone on the issue of school desegregation in New Castle County.

Whatever Joe Biden may personally believe about de-facto segregation caused by decades of redlining, or of busing as a remedy to that segregation, I can guarantee you that the only person who knows what that might be is Joe Biden. Going by any statements he made in the 1970's in order to fancy dance around taking a definable position for the purpose of being able to get enough Delaware voters he was marginally enough on their side, is an exercise in attempting to nail Jell-O to a wall.

Like his advocacy of an anti flag-desecration law in order to "protect the flag" or to prevent support for a Constitutional amendment gaining credible steam, it is one of those instances - and there are many - of Joe believing he has found some genius compromise position that allows him to wink and smile at people on either side to convey the impression he is on their side.

Joe is a good politician. A philosopher-king he is not.