And as many blacks also become skeptical of such efforts, busing seems destined to take a place among nobly intended but ultimately disappointing ventures to close the racial chasm.

Yet for all the anger created by apartheid's cruelties, there are signs the racial chasm is narrowing in small steps.

And Governor Faubus's defiance has always been viewed as a political ploy on his part rather than an expression of a deep racial chasm.

"This fear," he added, "is the measure of our racial chasm."

His ability to pull in over 50 percent of the white vote is a sobering reminder of the racial chasm which divides America.

Two utterances measure the racial chasm that sunders South Africa.

This racial chasm reverberates with the echoes of history.

The arguments about the flag might have grown familiar over its 38-year presence, but they were often riveting, and no issue has delineated the state's racial chasm more clearly.

The racial chasm in television viewing is relatively new.

Ms. Dykes, Ms. Chinners and most other students interviewed, black and white, said the incident opened a racial chasm in the school.