It has been twenty years since the Supreme Court concluded in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that separate educational systems for different races were inherently unequal and therefore violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The early result of this decision was the gradual elimination of overtly dual school systems in the South. More recently, the principle of educational equality has been interpreted to forbid any school segregation by race unless it can be shown to a court's satisfaction that such segregation has no discriminatory purpose. This has led to the movement to desegregate schools even in the face of segregated residential patterns. The most recent episode in the desegregation movement was initiated in 1974 with a federal court order to desegregate the Boston Public School System. The controversy and conflict following this decision have convulsed our community. Through this editorial statement we hope to encourage serious examination of some of the issues surrounding this controversy.

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