Segregation

The word segregation means voluntary or enforced separation.  To me it is one of those racially loaded words that always seems to mean enforced separation by legal means.  That no longer exists in this country and if by some small chance it still does, it should be eliminated. 

Separation of races in this country occurs, in my opinion, for a couple of reasons.  First, it is voluntary.  For whatever reason people seem to choose to live in neighborhoods that they feel comfortable in.   Certain numbers of Italians like to live around other Italians.  There are Swedes who like to live around other Swedes.  No one makes the Swedes or Italians live where they do in this country.  They chose to voluntarily segregate themselves.   This happens all the time with every group under the sun.   Personally I do not care.  When I chose a neighborhood I do not do a racial or ethnic census.  I primarily look at how good the schools are, what the crime statistics are, and how well do the residents protect their (and my) property values by maintaining their property. 

Segregation by choice happens at our universities as well.  There are black dorms.  Black fraternities.  Even black graduation ceremonies.  Required by law?  No.  By choice. 

The second way segregation occurs is economics.  Minority populations have for some time have not enjoyed the economic slice of the pie, although that is changing for the better all the time, and as a result have not had the opportunity to buy then trade up to better housing as have other groups.  I started with a $16,000 house 30 years ago and now live in, after 5-6 moves, in a $400,000 house.  My black neighbors in my area have done the same thing.  I did not want to spend the rest of my life in what I call a 'starter' houses or in an apartment so our family made economic sacrifices to move up.  If a minority family has the money 99.5% of the people with a house to sell will sell it to them.  I sold my last house to a young Hispanic couple with 3 kids, two jobs, and the need for more room to raise their families in an area with great schools.  I said "Show me the money" and they did.

Some people never could afford to make or made the sacrifices to buy that first house.  If people don't take steps on their own to improve their housing (bigger, house, nicer neighorhood, safer neighborhood with better schools, etc) they will continue to live in low income housing forever.  What happens is that those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder will tend to be segregated in areas of less desirable housing where there is more crime and bad schools.  The people that live in these areas have made economic choices in order to live here just as our family made choices to move up and out.  Economic choices include lifestyle choices, employment choices, partner choices, family size choices, and educational choices.  There is a great book about choices called Manchild in the Promise Land by Claude Brown.  It should be required reading in every high school.

I have seen a lot.  White and colored water fountains.  A realtor telling me that I should sell my house now because a black family bought a house on the next block.  Schools that were white only with a broken down black only school a mile down the road.  Buses that I rode on daily where the black people had to sit in the back.  Restaurants where black friends and I were denied service.  Stood on the balcony, with tears in my eyes, where MLK died 30 years before. Watch daily a young black man advance towards being a presidential nominee.   If you don't think things have changed in this country then your eyes and your mind are closed.

by Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 411 comments) on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 1:27:20 PM
 

is segregation voluntary?

Mad Jayhawk has offered a perceptive comment based on what he has seen for many decades in America. He notes the improvements, and he is right.

But segregated neighborhoods continue to exist in America. America has not overcome segregation. For children who are born into the worst, segregated, isolated, crime-ridden neighborhoods, living there is not a matter of choice. And they can remain trapped in these bad neighborhoods through a vicious cycle of poor education, bad company, unstable family situation, lack of jobs, getting a criminal record based on petty crime, and irresponsible personal behavior.

It is still difficult for a lower income black family to move out and try to rent or own a home in better neighborhoods. When families such as these encounter discrimination and steering back to segregated neighborhoods, they are discouraged from searching more and finally making it to a better situation.

Yes, voluntary segregation also exists. But most of the segregation in impoverished minority neighborhoods is not voluntary. People living here don't have enough social connections with the outside world to be able to move out. And yes, certain pathologies develop that result in a sense of hopelessness and lead to inertia. Of course, it is not only the poor in our country who suffer from pathologies--so do the very wealthy. Their pathologies are manifested in overmedication (by children as well as grownups), and uncontrolled greed for even more money. But that is the subject of another article.

One way to reduce the deleterious effects of lower income segregated neighborhoods is to have a system that can ensure equal public school quality across all neighborhoods. This way, children in segregated neighborhoods will have at least one vehicle for upward mobility.  

by Nandinee Kutty (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 2:27:39 PM
 

segregation

Mad jayhawk has made some excellent points. People tend to socialize and live in areas were people are much like themselves. As far as issuing government mandates to relocate people to attain a perfect racial mix, one must be careful this notion may be more harmful than racism itself. A good example is minority high school graduation rates. These rates are lower than ever and very high for minorities who go to a white majority school. Just think about how it would feel to be forced to go to a school were 90% of  the population were white and you were black. In some cases minority kids may excel in schools were they are the majority, and excel despite the fact that their school has less funding.

by Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 259 comments) on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 7:27:46 PM
 

Education

Education is the key.  Uneducated or undereducated people create huge social problems that we all would like to do something about with money or more government programs.  I think, by now, it is safe to say more money and more governments programs do not solve the basic problems in our society. We have to make some fundamental changes in the way we educate children

Our educational system, in every neighborhood but especially in low income ones, started its downward path to failure when teacher's unions got a toe hold and began its growth as an educational force.  Teacher's unions have done absolutely nothing for the children of this country.  Nothing.   Yet they have tremendous leverage over all aspects of education.  They have a death grip on the educational system to such an extent that all suggestions for improvements to the education of our children are dead on arrival.

Yet when we watch the political conventions this fall we will watch our politicians falling all over themselves to lavish praise on these evil people who are taking our country down child by child.  People do not realize what is going on in our schools.  I would home school my children now rather than put them in the academic and social cesspools in our schools.

We need vouchers.  We need educational freedom to choose.  We need all the alternatives out there to lessen the power of the unions to dictate educational policy.  If teachers do not want to be accountable for the outcomes that they control in their classrooms then parents should have a right to find the best possible educational environment for their children.  One parent or even a group of parents cannot fight the unions that have the politicians and, now, judges in their pockets.  Because individual parents are powerless to fight the big teacher's unions who have the money and political clout parents should be able to make educational choices.  If this doesn't happen we will continue to see the dumbing down of everything in our society.  Without a good education people are nothing because they will not have a chance to succeed when the opportunities present themselves. 

Make a diference.  Do not support or vote for any politician who supports teacher's unions.

by Mad Jayhawk (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 411 comments) on Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 5:21:42 PM