multicultural Chicago? (Cicero, Washington, Woodlawn: real estate, gated, housing)

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Manigault

It has been very quiet but there are reports of an increasing black presence in Sauganash, which I believe is out by O'Hare. White folks don't always burn crosses and such. Sorry if this disappoints some folks.

Where the hell did that come from?

Sauganash has to be the single whitest neighborhood in all of Chicago. If 10 black people moved there, it would probably double the neighborhood's black population. That would be "an increasing black presence" but it sure wouldn't be a "significant black presence" as earlier claimed.

According to the 2000 census, the black population of Forest Glen (of which Sauganash is a part) stood at 0.39%. By the looks of things up there, that number hasn't changed much in the last 7 years.

[AQUEMINI331]

Originally Posted by j33

I've never heard of Midway being described as being 'northwest' before either. I think that you 'not getting to the north side often' is probably why you might have some misguided notions about this part of town.

I grew up in the south suburbs and am fairly familiar with the south-side (I have friends and long time family friends who live in Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Beverly, Bridgeport, and Hegwisch .... and no, they are not all white in case you are wondering), but I've also lived on the northside of the city for many years and know that there is a lot to this side of the city that most people who live on the southside don't see or know about because they 'don't get up here that much' (of course the same could be said of northsiders). It does no good to make assumptions about a part of town you've never been to.

For some reason I thought he said "southwest" which is where MDW is located. Sorry.

[NYLATINQT]

It's a shame that in the year 2007 we are still talking about racial issues and segregation in the United States. My gosh, why can't we all just get along? The U.S. needs to get a clue from our neighbors in the caribbean. There you will find blacks, indians, chinese and a whole bunch of people of mixed ancestry and they get along just fine. they don't look at themselves as belonging to one race or another, but to a culture. they are united based on identity with their country and culture. The U.S. thinks its progressive but it's not. People will still take a 2nd look if they see a black & white couple walking down the street. What a shame.

[Manigault]

Actually, I found the situation in some areas of the Caribbean rather clueless. In Puerto Rico, which has a substantial black minority, all the models in the clothing ads are white. I saw not one black one, which is strange. Perhaps black skin does not fit into the local concept of beauty? At any rate, maybe the fact that there was the stress of a civil rights revolution in the US did have some positive effect on raising the collective consciousness.

The same situation is present in Brazil, long touted as a paradise of racial harmony. The highest black official ever in the Brazilian government (which country had the largest number of African slaves of any in the hemisphere) is Pele, the former soccer star. Maybe that country missed out on some re-appraisal by not going through a period of civil rights protests. What a shame.

[LM1]

Regarding integration in Chicago- No. The city of Chicago hasn't discovered the elusive magical fairy dust that completely negates human nature and centuries of human history so we can all strum guitars and live in harmony, happily ever after.

I moved to Chicago from the South (you know- the "RACIST!" south!) and ironically enough, find the interplay between black and white to be far more abrasive in the city than I *ever* did back home. I will say that I've encountered more upper income Black professionals in Chicago than I ever did in Florida or coastal Mississippi, but I've also encountered much more interracial hostility here too, coming from both sides of the ball.

The ideal of complete, absolute integration is monumentally delusional. There are distinct cultural components that are native to various races and, as history has shown, people tend to be most comfortable living amongst those who share a similar culture, history and background. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with this. If blacks want to have predominantly black neighborhoods, if Asians want to have predominantly Asian neighborhoods and if Whites want to have predominantly white neighborhoods, as long as they're using their own money to fund their own personal choices, I see nothing wrong with this.

I think we err far more gravely by trying to ignore facts of life and human nature in favor of an idealistic delusion than we do by simply accepting that certain geographical homogenies will exist in any multi-ethnic society, assuming that the separations are natural and not man-made (like mandatory segregation in the south, which was a terrible mistake)

Show me a white person lamenting over the lack of racial integration in the city, and I'll show you a person who, ironically enough, has made a personal choice to not live in one of the gray squares.



I absolutely adore the city of Chicago for what it is. Like anyplace else, there are things that could be better, but as it is, I believe it's the best city in the country, even though there are racially distinct communities like every other city in America.

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by LM1

I think we err far more gravely by trying to ignore facts of life and human nature in favor of an idealistic delusion than we do by simply accepting that certain geographical homogenies will exist in any multi-ethnic society, assuming that the separations are natural and not man-made (like mandatory segregation in the south, which was a terrible mistake)

You've got to be kidding if you're saying that the segregated element of neighborhoods in Chicago are "natural and not man-made".

[Scribbler]

I found that there was a significant black presence on the far north side in my old neighborhoods (I worked in education, and the majority of my tutoring load was black junior high aged students from the neighborhoods)...but I did find that the vast majority of the black population on the far north side were either first or second generation immigrants. People with heritage in the Caribbean, and Nigeria, predominantly, who were born there or had parents born there. Not people whose families had been in the U.S. for generations.

As my ex boyfriend, the American-born son of west African immigrants, used to say, there was a big social striation between recent African immigrants and those who have longstanding ties to being black in America over many generations. "There's 'Africans' and there's 'black folks,'" he used to say, "and neither looks at one another as one of 'them.'"

[Scribbler]

I also will go out on a limb and say that I don't think there's a thing in the world WRONG with ethnically distinct neighborhoods and communities. It's a GOOD thing to keep heritage strong. I do think there's something wrong if those of other ethnicities aren't WELCOME in ethnically distinct neighborhoods and communities.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by LM1

Show me a white person lamenting over the lack of racial integration in the city, and I'll show you a person who, ironically enough, has made a personal choice to not live in one of the gray squares.

I don't get the irony in that. Those grey squares are the most racially monolithic parts of the city. What's ironic about someone wanting to live in an integrated neighborhood not wanting to live in the most non-integrated parts of it?

[Milliano]

Originally Posted by Scribbler

I do think there's something wrong if those of other ethnicities aren't WELCOME in ethnically distinct neighborhoods and communities.

That's Chicago. Always has been - still is today. And not even just for 'ethnically distinct' neighborhoods, like specific villages such as Little Italy/Greektown/Chinatown... but rather for neighborhoods that are 'ethnically distinct' in that sense that they're mostly white. (this is probably true with black/hispanic/asian neighborhoods as well, but I don't know for sure)