Although many school districts and classrooms have desegregated since the 1954 Brown decision, desegregation is neither complete nor uniform. Moreover, racial isolation is growing in some regions and cities, and new forms of separation are arising within desegregated schools. New desegregation strategies and policies are needed, but these will be constrained by current demographic trends (such as the general move away from Northeastern cities to the suburbs and to the South) and economic phenomena, such as the growing poverty of cities. Similarly, citizens' changing political preferences are cause for pessimism, especially the decline in fervor for civil rights initiatives. Even among blacks, doubts are increasing that mandatory desegregation is either possible or advisable. Yet civil rights proponents should not despair: surveys reveal that Americans strongly and increasingly endorse racial integration and deplore segregation and racism. Policy makers must attempt to resolve debate over interpretation of the Brown decision. Of the three main interpretations--a "color-blind constitution"; "desegregation first"; and "educational quality"--the first must be ruled out as politically, morally, and constitutionally flawed. The other two are also unsatisfactory, but this does not mean that desegregation is doomed. If they are linked together, both quality education and desegregation can be achieved. Successful desegregation means avoiding resegregation, magnetizing all schools, fostering constructive interracial activities, and above all, desegregating on a metropolitan-wide basis. (KH)