Segregation Maintenance

                Racial segregation has been a part of America for some time. With the implementation of different legislation that has taken place since the end of the Civil Rights Movement, it seems like the symptoms of former racism have subsided rather largely. However, it may have only been the symptoms that were addressed. Today, many of the racial issues that have always been faced are still very present in society. Issues of separation and non-integrated communities are at the heart of all societal matters, and across different subcultures of society. A question I ask myself is how this separation is to be fixed.

                One of the first major issues that keeps racial groups separated is the way in which their communities or neighborhoods are comprised. In American Apartheid by Massey and Denton, the degrees to which people are separated are depicted. I was shocked to realize from the reading that in metropolitan areas, the contact held between black and white people is oftentimes falling below 5% (Massey and Denton YEAR: 112). This could be a major contribution to the numerous isolation theories that we have examined. If there is not contact between different racial groups, and most of the advantage and privilege lies within the population of one racial group, then the less privileged in turn could possibly stand a far lesser chance at opportunity.

                Furthermore, it is apparent that structural forces are keeping this separation intact. A lot of the previously mentioned legislation that was enacted had to do with Fair Housing and assisting black, lower income populations to make their way into more and better communities. Similar to the tactics of redlining and blockbusting as discussed prior, methods like “steering”, where white and black people are showed different properties by realtors in an attempt to maintain the separation (Massey and Denton YEAR: 99-100). If white and black people are being shown different neighborhoods, and blacks are being restricted from seeing some of the better places that they could reside within, they are remaining confined to the same areas as other blacks. Whether realtors do this under the assumption that people want to live in communities with like people or for racial reasons, it is neither doing the less fortunate populations any favors nor contributing to the betterment of society in terms of its integration.

                The question remains in my mind as to why this happens. Massey and Denton showed the results of a survey done in San Francisco outlining the opinions that whites in the city may have towards blacks. The responses stated that 41% of whites felt that blacks were less likely to take care of their homes than whites, 24% said blacks were more likely to cheat or steal, and 14% said blacks were more prone to commit sex crimes; all very lofty generalizations, of which there were many more than these three posed questions (Massey and Denton YEAR: 94). So metropolitan whites seem to have concepts of what having blacks in their neighborhoods may entail. But again I have to ask a “why” question. Why do they feel this way about blacks?

In my own assessment of the text and theories that have been discussed, I find it hard to see where the issue derives; and I believe this derivation lies in false perceptions. Whites living separate from blacks – and apparently wanting to stay separate from them – have a reason to believe that it is less desirable to live in communities where there are more blacks. For the sake of examination, one reason why they may think this is because of the perception that has been developed that black people are lazy and would be a bad representation. However, this notion of laziness could be a product of the lack of qualification in certain assistive programs. One example that could be noted is from the movie “Legacy” that we watched in class. In the film, Aunt Wanda has a hard time getting any sort of employment because assistive programs are not giving her help with child care while she would be at orientation. Due to this, she is left with the burden of having to choose to either work and not have anyone to take care of her children or for her to look after her children and be unable to work. White people may see this and form ideologies that black people are incapable parents or unable to uphold a job, forming the aforementioned perceptions – although they are externally circumstantial from the individual or even the entire black population.

                In conclusion, I feel like a revision of public policy and assistive programs needs to be considered. If black populations were given help that was less conditional, they would be able to realistically pull themselves out of their living circumstances, live within better means, and concurrently, negative perceptions could be lifted.

References

Massey, Douglas S. and Nancy A. Denton. 2001. “American Apartheid. Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA and London. Harvard University Press.