The Nation: Truce in Boston

Police helicopters were not hovering over the schools, and the sharpshooter had long been removed from the roof of Charlestown High. Few parents were demonstrating or spewing venom at the cops. About one-third of the city's 75,000 public school children were being bused, but black and white kids were largely coexisting. The Boston schools thus opened without serious incident—in marked contrast to the year before.

Opposition to court-ordered busing had not abated. One-third of the white kids did not show up at two of the most troubled schools; a federal marshal and five policemen were injured in encounters with white malcontents. But...

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