Saturday, March 31, 2018

How People Choose a Neighborhood

We have spent a lot of time discussing how our communities became so segregated over here at the G2A Life of Privilege post.  And there is no doubt that the beliefs of citizens in the mid-1900s contributed a lot of the segregation via government policies and their personal purchases. (ie democracy and capitalism)  Apparently a lot of people wanted to free the Blacks, but they did not want to live next to them.

However I also believe that like the early immigrants most people like to live near people from a similar culture, religion, language, race, etc.  And that this contributed equally to how our cities ended up the way they are.  This an interesting piece that discuss how people perceive and choose communities.  VOX White America is quietly self-segregating

Since it is on VOX, they seem to blame the outer suburb White folks for being scared of diversity. And they see it as all about "Race"... Very little discussion about home type available, lot size, school student poverty level, number of languages in school, crime rates, work place location, etc or the many other reasons that drive home ownership decisions.

After 20 years of listening to White folks who have run from our diverse school district, I have never heard folks verbalize that race was the issue. Mostly it was the amount of in school disruption that has increased as the number of unlucky kids increased. Well that and some gang activity, drug sales, fights, etc, etc, etc.  Now for the big questions as always.... 

  • Should they have stayed like my family did to support their community?  
  • Or should they have run fast for the good of their kids?
  • When all the responsible self focused Parents run, who is left in the community they ran from or avoided?

So what do you think of the VOX article...  Thoughts?

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