The main focus of this week’s topic
is the missing link. What is the missing link? Residential segregation! In
class we talked a lot about racial segregation, and that is a problem. In
American Apartheid by Massey and Denton, “Residential segregation has become
the forgotten factor of American race relations, a minor footnote in the
ongoing debate on the urban underclass”. “United states will remain a deeply
divided and very troubled society” (16). The high levels of racial segregation cannot
be reflected on your income because no matter what, blacks are equivalently
segregated with all levels of income. The
ideal is that individuals should be able to live wherever they want, if they
can afford it but what they all whites have in common is that they would feel uncomfortable
in any neighborhood that has more than a few black residents. As the percentage
of black residents rises, the number of white residents will refuse to enter or
would try to move out. Something that relates to this was the “evidence also
suggests that blacks can expect to experience significant discrimination in the
allocation of home mortgages as well” (11). This also relates to what Professor Weffer
mentioned in class about redlining, blockbusting, and restrictive covenants. To
be honest, I didn’t know much about redlining, blockbusting, and restrictive
covenants but these 3 mechanisms were legal when people were trying to gain
wealth.
With residential segregation, I
wasn’t sure what I was going to talk about. I thought about my neighborhood, there’s a
high population of Jewish people there, and one black person in my graduating
class, Chinatown, but I’ve decided to talk about Englewood, and a little bit
about Derrick Rose. Why? Because he suffered enough from his injuries and most
importantly, he’s from Englewood, Chicago. In all honesty, I really did try to
contact him about Englewood, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. What I found so
interesting was what Professor Weffer said was that 90% of people in Chicago
would have to move to get a 50/50 ratio since it’s so segregated. Englewood is
one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago. There’s a lot of violence,
segregation and race all in one neighborhood. I found an article from WBEZ91.5
about Englewood and the stories the residents have told. A resident named
Davinia Davis has lived in the neighborhood for 4 years; she explained what
goes on in the neighborhood, whether if there’s gunshots firing, homes caught
on fire, fights, and the lists goes on. She mentions the neighborhoods in
Chicago and said her daughter and her 2 boys would want to leave Englewood and move
out to Lincoln Park. Davis said “Believe me, I will
be a focus if I live in a predominantly white building or neighborhood, but as
long as I keep to myself and my boys are okay, and we let them know that we're
not out to harm anybody I don't think anything would happen, I think everybody
could all get along”. This clearly has to do with race. In American
Apartheid, Massey and Denton says, “the effects of white prejudice are
typically reinforced by direct discrimination against black homeseekers” (11). Her
daughter knows that if she moves into a predominately white neighborhood, like
in Lincoln Park, she will get the attention based on her race. Another great
example of residential segregation was what Davis experienced in an area by
Midway Airport. She came to the area to go bowling with her friends and “it was maybe about three or four cars of us going bowling
and it was some guys over there, get out our neighborhood and things like that or
whatever, and I'm like, well y'all, we need to go. You know I didn't like it. We
need to go, because I didn't want anything to happen”. Areas by Midway Airport
and Englewood are obviously two different neighborhoods. With residential
segregation in mind, and relating this to Massey and Denton, they talk about
individuals being attacked because of their skin color and “those living away
from recognized black neighborhoods has their houses ransacked or burned” (30).
As we clearly see violence rose when blacks would try to live in a different
area in a predominately white neighborhood.
Englewood is a tough community to
live and grow up in, derrick rose is not only playing for Chicago, but he’s
playing for Englewood. Rose was born and raised there. An article I found from
Bleacher Report discussed what went on in Englewood and what life was like for
Rose. Rose says “when I was younger, I used to cry about how rough it was, I
just wanted to be old enough to get me and my family out of there”, and he did.
Overall these examples show the problems of residential segregation. Not only
residential segregation is a problem, poverty, violence, and crime rates are
high within certain neighborhoods.
Massey,
Douglas S. & Denton, Nancy A. (1993). American
Apartheid. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
http://www.wbez.org/series/race-out-loud/race-segregation-and-violence-views-one-block-englewood-100238
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