Boston Busing Crisis Background Guide Table of Contents Letter from the Chair Letter from the Crisis Director Committee Logistics Introduction to the Committee Topic One: Protests & Violence Topic Two: Implementation History of the Problem Past Actions Taken Current Events Questions to Consider Resources to Use Dossiers Bibliography Staff of the Committee Chair Faisal Halabeya Vice Chair Evan Teplensky Crisis Director Samantha Koplik Assistant Crisis Director Jorge Gonzalez Coordinating Crisis Director: Julia Mullert Under Secretary General Elena Bernstein Taylor Cowser, Secretary General Neha Iyer, Director General Letter from the Chair Hello Delegates! Welcome to the Boston Busing Crisis Specialized Committee at BosMUN XIX! My name is Faisal Halabeya and I am thrilled to be serving as your chair during our conference! A little about myself: I am a sophomore studying math and physics and minoring in the Core Curriculum. At Boston University, I serve on the Executive Board of HeForShe and as a Student Ambassador at the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground. I’ve been engaging with MUN in some capacity for the past 4½ years and I am anticipating a successful conference! I hope that our committee is fast-paced yet thoughtful, productive but without compromising its integrity, and competitive at the level the delegates desire without losing our cooperative aims. Along with all our staff, I will do my best to make sure every delegate has the opportunity to participate fully and that everyone gets out what they put into our three days together. Please keep in mind that the topics we will be debating are sensitive ones which hold significant historical and emotional weight. Topics such as race, discrimination, violence, police brutality, and others will come up and delegates should be aware of that. This being said, we the staff will expect everyone in the room to treat the debate with the gravity it merits, and to hold each other—and us—accountable for doing so. As BosMUN XIX will be hosted in the City of Boston, our topic should be of special interest to all of us. It is also of great personal importance to me because one of my mentors was a journalist during the busing crisis. She led the Globe to its Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the events in Boston, and she often tells me stories about her experiences as a black woman in this city. Her courage and dedication are an inspiration to me. So, suffice it to say, there is no committee I would rather be chairing. I look forward to welcoming you all to Boston. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns, or just to get in touch between now and February! All the best, Faisal Halabeya [email protected] Letter from the Crisis Director Hello Delegates! Welcome to BosMUN XIX! My name is Sam and I am very excited to be your Crisis Director for the Boston Busing Crisis committee! Faisal and I have been working hard to plan this committee and we have chosen topics that are both relevant and impactful to Boston’s busing crisis. Before I talk more about this committee, let tell you all a bit about myself. When I am not busy writing dossiers, you can find me in the lab decked out in personal protective equipment! I am a senior at Boston University, studying Biomedical Engineering and I intend to pursue a PhD this fall in Biomedical engineering. While my major is a bit atypical from my fellow MUN companions, I do plan to eventually have a career where I can combine my interest in science and engineering with my interests in public policy and international relations. With regard to MUN, I have previously served as a crisis staffer for BosMUN and an ACD and I am excited to end my MUN career on a strong note with Boston Busing Crisis! As your CD, I will aim to make this committee immersive and relevant to Boston in the 1970s and 1980s—an era at the pinnacle of legislature, riots and violence relating to desegregation. The topics of this committee are socially and politically sensitive as they pertain to racism and violence. Some characters in this committee even have inherently racists beliefs. However, as long as we all respond maturely and appropriately to conflicts pertaining to topics of this nature, Faisal and I expect this committee to go off without a hitch! I am excited to plan interesting crisis archs for this committee and to challenge you all with crisis updates as you attempt to mitigate violence in Boston whilst also navigating the complexities of desegregating Boston schools. To ensure your success in this committee, crisis notes and directives should be creative, relevant, consistent and purposeful. Please do not hesitate to talk to me if you have any questions about this committee. I am going to have a blast working with you all to make this committee as fun and enjoyable as possible and I look forward to seeing you all soon in good ol’ Beantown! All the Best, Sam Koplik [email protected] Committee Logistics As a specialized committee with a fast-paced crisis backroom, we will be utilizing directives as our primary form of operative document. This is done in order to allow delegates to respond more efficiently to crisis updates, to prevent time lost to the writing of preambulatory clauses, and to make collation and collaboration easier for you as delegates. In order to be considered, there is no minimum or maximum number of sponsors/signatories that a directive may have, but the expectation is that delegates will seek common ground amongst themselves before submitting directives (ie. if no one else in committee has seen your directive yet, it is not yet ready to be debated). Additionally, when directives are introduced the general rule is that no more that three will be introduced at a time, so collaboration will also be expected in order to pare down the number directives to three or fewer before they are introduced by the chair. In committee, delegates are expected to remain civil, respectful, and mindful of the impact of their words and actions. We hope that debate will remain at a high level and that everyone will participate as actively as possible. Additional expectations will be set as needed. We will hold you to a high standard and invite you to do the same; if you feel that your expectations of the committee are not being met, or if you have any feedback during the conference, please do not hesitate to let any member of staff know. Introduction to the Committee Our committee represents a diverse range of opinions, positions, and appointments throughout the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the year 1974. We are being placed in the middle of a crisis: the implementation of Busing in Boston Public Schools. You, the delegates, are a group of leaders, politicians, community activists, and other public figures from the area tasked with debating both the policies surrounding Busing as well as their implementation. Secondarily, you must also deal with the reactions of the public and the violence and protests that ensue as a result of the heightened tensions between different communities in Boston. You are situated at the beginning of Phase II of the crisis, shortly after Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. has ruled that any school in Boston with more than 50% nonwhite students must be racially balanced by busing students between de facto segregated school districts and has submitted Phase II to address the issues arising during the fall of the 1974-75 school year.1 Throughout debate it should be kept in mind that delegates each have their own interests and influence throughout the City and that these may be of consequence to the crisis that is unfolding. Not all delegates support the Busing plan and some may seek to undermine it. Regardless of what happens, however, the success of your committee will rest on all members; all must respond to the crisis and all must face the consequences not only of their own actions but that of their colleagues’. Topic One: Protests & Violence Following the Garrity ruling, Boston erupted into chaos caused by the implementation of Busing alongside a backdrop of both violent and nonviolent resistance. Unfortunately, most of the pushback came in the form of aggression or violence, and was often met with the same.2 It all began with the establishment of Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) under the leadership of former Boston School Committee member Louise Day Hicks. The organization had as its goal to fight the Garrity ruling, calling it an overreach of power and claiming that segregation and discrimination did not exist in Boston Public Schools.3 Hicks and her organization took their model from Civil Rights activists, leading sit-ins, public prayers, and even a small march on Washington, DC.4 Over time, as it became clear that busing would happen no matter what, the group dwindled in influence and fell off. But though they were gone, their influence would remain significant and manifested itself in efforts to continue to undermine the busing initiative. These included both indiscriminate and organized forms of resistance.5 Topic One: Protests & Violence Incidents of violence were commonplace, and often included attacks on black people. Notoriously, an attack on attorney Theodore Landsmark left him near-dead, and retaliatory incidents ensued involving more bloodshed.6 But those who suffered perhaps most of all were the students who were being bused. They often faced intimidation both from other students and from parents and the community at large.7 South Boston, often called Southie, was a hotbed for anti-busing violence.