Growing up in East Boston, Robert Lewis Jr. and Sal LaMattina have been best friends since they were in the first grade. They both received an education of a lifetime when, in 1974, a federal court order caused the city to bus kids around the city, resulting in a racist backlash that tore their neighborhood apart. They remember it like it was yesterday: stabbings at school, a firebomb in the kitchen, and a community fractured. Lewis is now the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, and LaMattina served as a Boston city councilor for a decade in the 2000s. They discuss their memories on this 50th anniversary of busing - and their hopes for the next 50 years of public education in Boston. Email us at [email protected]. FOR PHOTOS OF SAL AND JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL AND NOW - Check out our instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/globeopinion/ For the Boston Globe’s newsroom audio documentary about busing, visit their show page: https://www.bostonglobe.com/multimedia/audio/podcast/globe-podcast/