Writing for USA Today, John Ritter looked at cities where the proportion of African-Americans has decreased since 1970. They include Washington (71.1% to 56.8%), Houston (35.7% to 23.5%), Los Angeles (17.9% to 9.9%) and San Francisco (13.4% to 6.5%). In only one city -- Chicago -- did he cite a decline in actual numbers. Chicago has lost 55,000 blacks since 2000.

The "causes," Ritter speculated, were for the most part related to the "problems" of the cities.

What he barely mentioned, however, was the increase in other minorities, particularly Hispanics, that would lead to a decrease in the proportion of other racial groups. He barely mentions the return of whites, particularly young whites, to the city. And he doesn't emphasize the pursuit of the {now somewhat dated) American dream of a bigger house for families with rising incomes.

In focus groups we conducted with young African-Americans in Atlanta a couple of years ago, there was a clear strain of this last point in the conversations. It seemed out of step with what we heard from other young Americans in similar groups around the country. It felt like they were getting to the surburban party late, and I thought at the time, do all young adults simply reject what they grew up with and want something different?

There are no comments for this entry.

Post a Comment

*Name:

E-mail Address:

URL:

*Comment:

Please type this word:

*required fields. your email address will not be published

Please leave the following field blank: