This case means that black children will not receive equal educational opportunities. The city is innocent. The fear is that separate and unequal education will return to Charlotte. The 27 schools built since 1969 have all gone up in the suburbs. And while those communities are more integrated than they were, they remain predominantly white.
Most blacks still live in the inner city, where the older schools are.
Blacks say it's not the case. They are going to schools that lack resources. They are going to schools where high numbers of teachers are inexperienced. Today's decision probably will be appealed. But if it stands, the city that became a symbol of civil rights will be on its own to prove it does not need the federal courts to give its children an equal education.