Suburbia at night Maureen Still via Flickr citylab.com |
The problem of suburban poverty is not unique to Caucasian middle class families hit hard by rising property taxes and the collapse of the home mortgage crisis. Minority families in suburbia have been severely affected as well. Today we are going to look at minorities in the suburbs. Specifically, minorities in suburban areas following the collapse of the global economy. To help us begin to understand this subject is Kriston Capps's article for CityLab titled "Minorities and the 'Slumburbs.'"
History tells us that Caucasian families left the inner cities in droves during the fifties and sixties, seeking the promise of larger homes, safer schools, and generally better lives then ones their ancestors experienced. Minority families remained in the inner cities until they heeded the clarion call of a greener pastures. Instead of the promise of a brighter future, minority families found a place decimated by the "...subprime mortgage crises and the collapse of the global economy."
Slumburbs by day gawker.com |
Post Civil Rights suburbs versus central city 2000-12 census.gov citylab.com |
Mother and daughter in a suburban kitchen huffingtonpost.com |
Living in the post-civil rights suburbs during the 200os and early 2010s usually meant having better and more racially equatable neighborhood conditions than living in the central city or older suburbs...Gains were greatest for African American and low-income households and smallest for whites and higher-income households. With few exceptions, they persisted over time.
In cities such as: Houston, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; Tulsa, Oklahoma PCS neighborhoods presented more racial equality than the CCs or older suburbs in a startling 100 percent of the indicators, incomes, and periods, studied by Ms. Pfeiffer. This was also true of Latinos living in PCS neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Asians living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In short, in fifty-seven out of eighty-eight regions, "neighborhood conditions in the post-civil rights suburbs were more racially equitable for minorities the majority of the time," elucidated the study. Further, "Nine regions had more racially equitable conditions in the post-civil rights suburbs close to or fully 100 percent of the time."
Average gains in racial equity in neighborhoods census.gov citylab.com |
Therefore, it would be safe to surmise that all is not bleak for suburban development, in terms of racial parity. As Kriston Capps writes, "Indeed, newer suburbs demonstrated better parity and lasting equality than other neighborhood typologies over a difficult decade." Sounding an optimistic note he continues, For black families and other minority households who have only ever been hurt by U.S. housing policy, post-civil rights suburbs may be the dream right now." While yours truly concurs with Mr. Capps in not describing suburbs like Irvine, in Orange County, or Palmdale in Los Angeles County as "slumburbs." What Palmdale, Irvine, Tinley Park and Bolingbrook near Chicago are good examples of what fair housing can be and serve as possible models for the future.
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