A long, perhaps too long, history of racism
Julian Phillips/Manchester Road
Wed Oct 24, 2007, 12:55 PM EDT
Winchester - In January 1967 a program to bus minority students from troubled Boston neighborhoods to privileged suburban public schools (commonly known as METCO), was announced. Most school districts in the greater Boston area voted to accept the proposal, but in Winchester a slim margin of approval came only after months of heated dispute. Town-wide opposition to the measure was so serious however that METCO declined to extend the program to the community because of concerns about student safety.
Seven years later, in 1974, the town selectmen once again introduced the measure, but abandoned the attempt after burning crosses were left on the lawns of the program's major proponents. Inexcusably, these troubling signs of racism were shoved under the carpet and ignored.
Thirty years later, little has changed. Winchester is still more than 87 percent white; and the only pitiful stab at ensuring racial equality in our public schools is a small outpost of A Better Chance on Dix Street. But a slew of recent incidents against the organization, at least one of which was racially motivated, have threatened its survival. Already, the eight ABC scholars are unable to leave their house for fear of attack and one student is considering withdrawing from the program.
While much of the community has been justifiably outraged by these recent events, few measures have been proposed to confront the problem. Two weeks ago a letter was published in this paper both decrying the mission of the ABC house and denying the very existence of racism in the United States. Sadly, a large, if often-unseen portion of the population shares this sentiment.
Cindy Hale wrote in a recent column "Is this really our Winchester?" The sad truth is "yes." And it is time that we faced up to our racial problems and bring an end to this deplorable chapter in our history.
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