Doohickie
Cyburbian
- Messages
- 3,552
- Points
- 46
Short version: If integrating white neighborhoods into multi-racial/cultural neighborhoods is considered progressive, desirable, and all the other good terms, what about "historically black neighborhoods"? Is integrating them also progressive? Or should they remain undiluted cultural enclaves?
Longer version: In riding around Fort Worth, I sometimes go through areas that are historically black. We have a few. They also tend to be (but not uniformly so) more run down than the average. And while I'm riding I often have the time to think ideas through. This one pops up in my head from time to time and remains unresolved. I think it's also related to the concept of gentrification, where well-to-do people (often white) move into economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and in the extreme push the original community out. The result may be a "model community" and a "great place to live" but if it was serving a purpose such as providing affordable housing near downtown to lower income working people, are those truly improvements in the overall makeup of the city?
My wife likes to look through Realtor.com and post listings on her FB wall to discuss. There have been a few that she's posted and says, "I could see myself living in this house." In some cases, the house is in one of those historically black areas and I think maybe she wouldn't want to live there if she knew that, and the neighbors might not be happy if white families moved in.
But are those feelings any less prejudicial than white people getting angry when a black family moves in? Do they have a right to be angry (either side)?
Longer version: In riding around Fort Worth, I sometimes go through areas that are historically black. We have a few. They also tend to be (but not uniformly so) more run down than the average. And while I'm riding I often have the time to think ideas through. This one pops up in my head from time to time and remains unresolved. I think it's also related to the concept of gentrification, where well-to-do people (often white) move into economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and in the extreme push the original community out. The result may be a "model community" and a "great place to live" but if it was serving a purpose such as providing affordable housing near downtown to lower income working people, are those truly improvements in the overall makeup of the city?
My wife likes to look through Realtor.com and post listings on her FB wall to discuss. There have been a few that she's posted and says, "I could see myself living in this house." In some cases, the house is in one of those historically black areas and I think maybe she wouldn't want to live there if she knew that, and the neighbors might not be happy if white families moved in.
But are those feelings any less prejudicial than white people getting angry when a black family moves in? Do they have a right to be angry (either side)?
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