Apartheid. USA 1988

February 3, 1987:

After six years of legal battles and community protests, a Federal Court ordered integration for all schools in Yonkers in the blue-collar Westchester County near New York City. Worst problems were expected at the Lincoln High School in the predominantly white section of the racially divided city. Here opposition against desegregation had been strongest. It was a tense beginning, with a few minor fist-fights and shoving matches erupting inside the school at first. Police officers with riot gear were patrolling outside. But, now, three months later black, white and Hispanic students are finding that their worst fears are not coming true. Lincoln would be the biggest problem school, but everyone was fooled. The student government and sport teams are already integrated while the student body at the same time came down from 88 percent to 56 percent white students. ‘The first day of school was the worst day of my life,’ said Christina Varon, a black senior who became one of 1 640 students after her own high school was closed. ‘Every time I walked into a classroom, it seemed like it was

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all white. I sat in the corner. It seemed like everybody hated me. I was worried I might get jumped on the way home.’ But Christina feels accepted and unafraid now. She ran for vice-president of the student-government and won. ‘I feel better about myself now,’ she said, ‘I overcame my fears of coming here and getting beat up. I have made friends.’ All of the junior and senior high schools in Yonkers and all but 5 of the 22 elementary schools are now in compliance with the Court desegregation order.^41.

41. The New York Times, from a report by Sara Rimer