One segregation-era judge framed resistance as justifying policy through race-neutral socioeconomic language.

Evidence

The judge dismissed predictions of massive white flight to private schools as an “apparent assumption that the people who live in south and east Mecklenburg are more self-centered or racially intolerant than the people who are already experiencing ‘bussing.’” Chairman William Poe responded that “originally, the judge was talking about racial integration. Now he is talking about socioeconomic integration, and the law says nothing about that… . It’s just the judge’s idea of how society ought to be.” — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 102

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly parallels the ‘On Sacrifice’/‘Grafting’ interest in how materially-loaded institutions get reframed through ideology: here racial policy gets narrated as illegitimate class-based social engineering, the exact discursive move the reader is studying in segregation-to-color-blindness.
• XREF: connects to: States’ rights rhetoric signals resistance to federally-enforced racial equality. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 286; Segregationists resisted the racist label by invoking God, nature, science, or common sense. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 17; Anti-discrimination laws can rhetorically shield a state from charges of racism — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1170 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Respectable segregationists framed exclusion of blacks as a symmetry of individual choice #expands (0.85) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 372
• White segregationists rhetorically reframed racial exclusion as protection of community integrity #expands (0.82) — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 193
• Anti-discrimination laws can rhetorically shield a state from charges of racism #corroborates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1170
• Color-blind rhetoric revived segregationism by condemning discussion of racism as itself racist #corroborates (0.79) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1162
• States’ rights rhetoric signals resistance to federally-enforced racial equality. #exemplifies (0.78) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 286
• Segregationists resisted the racist label by invoking God, nature, science, or common sense. #responds-to (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 17
• Race-neutral justifications easily mask biased peremptory jury strikes #corroborates (0.74)