eliminate from the public schools all vestiges of state-imposed segregation...

a new set of white plaintiffs assert race-conscious admission policies are discriminatory. In other words, they allege the Swann case has become unconstitutional.

William Capacchione filed a lawsuit against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system because his daughter was twice denied admission to the school her family selected for her. The school system has defended by asserting it has NOT fully integrated and should not be released from court-ordered desegregation. The Swann attorneys agree with their former adversary!

Several other similar cases are pending throughout the country. In some, courts have relieved schools from court-imposed segregation. To do that, however, courts have to find that the school district has become "unitary." That means school boards have complied in good faith with court orders and have eliminated traces of illegal segregation. 

Believing that schools in Charlotte, North Carolina ARE fully integrated, Robert D. Potter, a federal judge, ruled in favor of the Capacchione plaintiffs and against the Board of Education and the Swann plaintiffs.

The last word on the case has not been spoken, however. It will surely make its way back to the United States Supreme Court. Currently the appeal is pending at the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. During arguments before that court, judges intently questioned lawyers representing the Capacchione plaintiffs.

But the climate of America is much different as the Swann case returns to the Supreme Court. The turbulent days of 1971 are completely unknown by an entire generation. Even for people who lived through gut-wrenching days of political unrest, student protest and seemingly endless war in Vietnam, those times are becoming a distant memory.

It seems fitting, then, to Remember the Titans as they and their coaches confronted not only the internal pressures of integration, but also the external pressures of political unrest. To have become champions despite formidable odds against them is a tribute to the character of T. C. Williams High, its football team, and their coaches. It is also a testament to the power of the human spirit in overcoming the most extraordinary obstacles imaginable.