In 1975, Sen. [[Joseph Biden]] proposed an amendment that gutted Title VI of the [[1964 Civil Rights Act]], which enabled the federal government to cut off funding to school districts that refused to integrate. ''[[Politico]]'' writes of the whole sordid affair,
In 1975, Sen. [[Joseph Biden]] proposed an amendment that gutted Title VI of the [[1964 Civil Rights Act]], which enabled the federal government to cut off funding to school districts that refused to integrate. ''[[Politico]]'' writes of the whole sordid affair,
{{quotebox|Biden morphed into a leading anti-busing crusader—all the while continuing to insist that he supported the goal of school desegregation, he only opposed busing as the means to achieve that end. This stance, which many of Biden’s liberal and moderate colleagues also held, was clever but disingenuous. It enabled Biden to choose votes over principles, while acting as if he was not doing so....In a seminal moment, the Senate thus turned against desegregation. The Senate had supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act, [[1965 Voting Rights Act]] and 1968 Fair Housing Act....the Senate remained the last bastion for those who supported strong integration policies. Biden stormed that bastion...<ref name="politico.com">https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/joe-biden-integration-school-busing-120968_full.html</ref>}}
{{quotebox|Biden morphed into a leading anti-busing crusader—all the while continuing to insist that he supported the goal of school desegregation, he only opposed busing as the means to achieve that end. This stance, which many of Biden’s liberal and moderate colleagues also held, was clever but disingenuous. It enabled Biden to choose votes over principles, while acting as if he was not doing so....In a seminal moment, the Senate thus turned against desegregation. The Senate had supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act, [[1965 Voting Rights Act]] and 1968 Fair Housing Act....the Senate remained the last bastion for those who supported strong integration policies. Biden stormed that bastion...<ref name="politico.com">https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/joe-biden-integration-school-busing-120968_full.html</ref>}}
A Boston NAACP leader said, “An anti-busing amendment is an anti-desegregation amendment, and an anti-desegregation amendment is an anti-black amendment.” Republican Sen. [[Edward Brooke]], the first black senator ever to be directly elected, called Biden's amendment “the greatest symbolic defeat for [[civil rights]] since 1964.” Brooke accused Biden of leading an assault on integration.
A Boston NAACP leader said, “An anti-busing amendment is an anti-desegregation amendment, and an anti-desegregation amendment is an anti-black amendment.” Republican Sen. [[Edward Brooke]], the first black senator ever to be directly elected, called Biden's amendment “the greatest symbolic defeat for [[civil rights]] since 1964.” Brooke accused Biden of leading an assault on integration.