A middle-class antibusing movement forced segregationist ideology into a ‘color-blind’ populist frame.

Evidence

The remobilization of the CPA during 1970 produced a powerful revolt of the center that prevented a stable resolution of Charlotte’s busing crisis for the next four years and pioneered the grassroots emergence of the suburban Silent Majority onto the national political landscape. … Tapping into the powerful vocabulary of populism, the CPA presented itself as “an association of, by and for the people. You can be proud to be a part.” In the courts and in the streets, the CPA employed a color-blind framework that attacked “involuntary busing” as a violation of the original spirit of the Brown decision and the race-neutral requirement of the Constitution. … After only four months of grassroots agitation, the political uprising by the CPA gained control of the local school board and convinced the Nixon administration to adopt the color-blind platform of the antibusing movement as the formal policy of the executive branch. “Ultimately the will of the people governs,” according to the constant refrain of the suburban populists from Charlotte. “Rulings and decrees that are overwhelmingly opposed by the general public cannot endure.” — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 51

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly extends the reading purpose: this is the specific case of a rationalizing ideology (segregation through neighborhood schools) explicitly rebranded as ‘color-blind’ constitutional principle under sustained pressure, and it was adopted as formal executive-branch policy. Useful material for framing the mechanism of ideological retreat-and-rebrand.
• XREF: connects to: Color-blind rhetoric revived segregationism by condemning discussion of racism as itself racist — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1162; Excluded whites reframed their segregationism as a defense of beleaguered rights — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 102; Colorblindness ideology rearticulated civil rights gains into a new racism — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 192 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The anti-busing movement mobilized white suburban middle-class moderates, not just ideologues. #expands (0.92) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 68
• Busing opponents inverted civil rights language to cast white taxpayers as an aggrieved majority #expands (0.90) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 41
• Nixon’s 1970 desegregation stance adopted the suburban antibusing movement’s color-blind ideology. #exemplifies (0.88) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 76
• Colorblindness ideology rearticulated civil rights gains into a new racism #expands (0.85) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 192
• Color-blind rhetoric revived segregationism by condemning discussion of racism as itself racist #corroborates (0.82) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1162
• Excluded whites reframed their segregationism as a defense of beleaguered rights #expands (0.78) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 102
• Failing race paradigms left a vacuum that neoconservatism and colorblind ideology filled #corroborates (0.75) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 160