Quote:
Originally Posted by samyn on the green
Incidents like this will trigger white flight. There is this myth of diversity that different ethnics and cultures can live together in peace and harmony. They may live together but it is not a community.
A community may have some diversity but there is always a dominant ethnic culture that holds sway over the social interactions of the area. The diversity ethnics are subservient to the dominant culture. When blacks move into a affluent suburban WASPy areas they share the liberal values of the dominant national secular culture. These neighborhoods can accept various races with ease because that the dominant culture is never threatened as it is protected by the high cost of the area. They can practice their racism without any risk of looking downscale overly racist.
The problem with working class ethnic neighborhoods is that the ethnics have their own unique culture that requires their own area. There is no dollar cost protection that keeps out invading ethnics from other cultures. The criminal element can be wielded like a tool to scare these people into fleeing the area. They are often painted as racists when they desire to be around like-minded people, something everyone needs.
The love of community is the same reasons why blacks cluster in Southeastern Queens even when they can afford to live in more expensive areas. Blacks like all groups like to live with the comfort of living with their own people. The working class white ethnics enjoy this sense of community too but they have issues expressing this and often fall into the trap of overt racism in their challenge to express their love of like minded people. They are often colored as racists in the media like what is happening in Suffolk,this is a good indicator that real estate concerns are looking to ethnically flip an area.
A neighborhood like N Merrick will reach a tipping point when the old residents are no longer the dominant culture and they will all flee as housing values plummet and real estate brokers are able to "flip" the neighborhood for fire sale prices. There will then be a transitional period of diversity while the white flight completes the cycle. Then in a few years it will become an homogeneous ethnic neighborhood once again but all black or all latino. There will never be stable diversity it only exists in urban planning textboks. |
I think Port Washington is one of the few communities in this area that is both diverse and stable. The school district has remianed in the 30% minority range for several decades now and whites continue to move into district ensuring that it will remain truly diverse in the coming decades.
https://www.nystart.gov/publicweb-rc...0404030000.pdf
My son goes to school with old wealthy WASP families from Sands Point, Upper Middle class professional Jews and Asians, Middle class Italian and Irish teacher's/cops kids, working class Hispanics from Manorhaven and poor black kids from Harbor Homes. My son will get learn about all types of people and get an education in a good school district to boot!
The minute I dropped my old style ideas about race and class (that unfortunately are all too common where I grew up in Buffalo) the happier I became living here.
We have a sense of community here that is not simply based on race, class or ethnic background. I'm proud to live in Port!
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