Friday, August 18, 2006

white flight, part deux



racial tipping, otherwise affectionately known as "white flight," from new jersey suburbs. i missed something completely in my quick analysis of the racial tensions in queens. it failed to occur to me that many white folks would PREFER to move to a less affluent area where there are lots of white folks rather than stay in a rich neighborhood with lots of racial minorities. (many of the folks in queens are moving to staten island, where the property values, in general, are around $150k to $200k less).

anyway, check the analysis on west orange, nj. west orange is affluent. however, white folks have been fleeing in droves. the black population has ballooned, and property values have also exploded (which conflicts with the idea that black people bring is the decline of property values... natch!). so the reason is racism, plain and simple. rather than stay in a safe, clean and wealthy town with black folks, (some) white folks are picking up and moving to... who the hell knows. (hopefully not hoboken. please not hoboken.) so, for these people, it really doesn't matter if their next door neighbors are engineers or doctors; shit, they're black! run, forrest run!

the paper is an analysis of how to achieve integration. the conclusion they come to, i believe, is to erase the class element and to make sure a critical mass of all groups is in all parts of town - i.e. don't build public housing as a way to attract poor minorities, which hasten white flight - but attract affluent african-americans and stick them in all parts of the town. and stick white people where there are black people. and they can all send their kids to private school. yippee. but don't hasten the flow too quickly, or else the "west orange" effect might occur. oh my!

i thought to myself... what if i moved into a neighborhood with killer properties, and at the same time, lots of people who look like me move in. and then the older residents leave. what would i think? frankly, i'd be happy. "leave! i don't want you as my neighbor anyway. good riddance. take your ass across the verrazano bridge, and don't come around here no more, y'hear?"

ha ha.

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