[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by MGD

Test scores are what I need to know though...the school my son attends now is rated a 9 or 10...the school he'd be going to in Traverse City is ranked 8...8, 9, and 10 are acceptable scores to me...and so are the comments of those in the know, i.e. people whose kids go to the school, people who are on these boards who know traverse city public schools...

The school he goes to now, 90% or higher of all students achieve on or above grade level on state tests, math, reading, and so on...other schools that the state may rank "A" schools, when you look at the actual number achieving on or above grade level, it's 70% and less...that's a C to me.

Schools where the kids are making the grades generally have parents who are teaching their kids how to behave (which means my son isn't going to be distracted from his learning by bullsh*t), teachers who know how to teach and how to communicate with the parents, and better resources to get the learning points across. That's what I need right there, less uphill struggle for me than sending him to a bad or so-so school where I must correct all kinds of things I don't like ON TOP OF being a single parent.

He's been to an A, B, and C school and I can tell the difference with all three, right down to the administration's capability and smarts or lack thereof. Makes a big difference in my life and stress levels.

I see what you are saying on the white flight and thanks for the links, I will check them out. It just seems to me calling it white flight implies that anything the white people are doing must be good or better, so if they leave it's cause to complain...then when they move back in, it's gentrification and it's another cause to complain.

There are people who are ignorant to me because I'm black and they are white, and people who are ignorant to me because they are american black and I am a foreigner...I guess I'll read up on it for understanding and context but it's very hard to share the concern...I have cousins who didn't like the fact that the ghetto was creeping up on their area in Jamaica, and up and left it...that's what people DO, esp. when they have children...I lived in a hood area for 4 months after graduation because I had to find a job before taking on too high of a rent bill...and I couldn't even take my kids outside to play because then there would be beer bottles and cans everywhere like the entire paking lot was a personal dumpster, cigarettes everywhere, someone's costume jewellery broke they threw the whole thing out in the lot, so my daughter is wondering if she should put it in her mouth...nosy people who have money for beer and cigs all day but ask ME, who's not working, for foil, diapers, wipes, meat, headache meds, any and everything, like I'm rich or something...I got out of there on my first cheque, even though it meant living with nearly nothing til I got paid again (til i lost the job).

And I hated seeing police flying with sirens wailing every 2 seconds...I once had to sit for nearly an hour in the road waiting on 2 patrol cars blocking the entrance to the complex who were resolving a domestic dispute with a lady and her man who are constantly having said disputes...her sister said she is afraid to live by herself cause she's never lived by herself, that's why she stays with the guy...I'm like wtf WHAT? 40 how much years old and dependent like a child...I had a husband that was acting up and not doing his job and I didn't beg him to stay. I don't understand her thinking. If I am going to do bad, I can do it by myself.

Anyway, all that stuff I am not use to, that was my first, and LAST, time in the hood. It was also impossible to meet decent men there, and that got very depressing. Everybody who tried to talk to me was unemployed, severely underemployed, or illegally "employed."


I can understand old people being attached...

I understand what you mean by going somewhere were the schools are good. That's wht my parents did too.

I just mentioned the other information to give a different perspective of why it is is called "White Flight" and how race and economics have been linked, generally in the US. Pretty much, there is a history and motive behind it. Now, you could pretty much call it economic flight, as people of other backgrounds are leaving cities for the suburbs. So, the dynamics of neighborhoods change in metro areas across the country.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by stars&bars

Killers do come in all races but when you have over 200 killings in one city in LESS THAN ONE YEAR, I'm talking about the city of Filthadelphia then there is a racial problem or a problem race committing the killings and former Mayor of Filthadelphia John Street even proclaimed at one time THAT THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE RUNNING THE CITY so now you have the answer why WHITEY is leaving the cities!!!!!!!!

i dont think they gota racial problem i think they gota violence problem.

[pirate_lafitte]

Detroit has always had an issue when it came to race relations. Nowadays many people would rather lie about it. Back in the old days, it was considered perfectly acceptable for a person to admit in public that the hated blacks and acceptable to enact discriminatory practices. In those days it was acceptable and few people cared. Nowadays it isn't acceptable to be a racist or a bigot(there is a difference. A racist is someone who thinks one race is better than another. A bigot is someone who has hateful views of a particular ethnicity and would try to discriminate) because many are learning the damaging results of racism and bigotry. Sadly, many people still hold bigoted views in their hearts and feel like they will be ostracized for it. People hide what they feel because it is convenient for them. Times have changed and so have the laws. Opinions and views are harder to change.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Detroit has always had an issue when it came to race relations. Nowadays many people would rather lie about it. Back in the old days, it was considered perfectly acceptable for a person to admit in public that the hated blacks and acceptable to enact discriminatory practices. In those days it was acceptable and few people cared. Nowadays it isn't acceptable to be a racist or a bigot(there is a difference. A racist is someone who thinks one race is better than another. A bigot is someone who has hateful views of a particular ethnicity and would try to discriminate) because many are learning the damaging results of racism and bigotry. Sadly, many people still hold bigoted views in their hearts and feel like they will be ostracized for it. People hide what they feel because it is convenient for them. Times have changed and so have the laws. Opinions and views are harder to change.

Good point about the difference in terms and people seem to think supremacy is one and the same with those terms and it isn't. Racism is putting stereotypes into some type of action, where supremacy is the result due to the fact it is based on dominance.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Good point about the difference in terms and people seem to think supremacy is one and the same with those terms and it isn't. Racism is putting stereotypes into some type of action, where supremacy is the result due to the fact it is based on dominance.

And Detroit isn't the only city with this issue. Atlanta had the same issue(though the economy isn't nearly as bad). The difference is that few want to talk about it there.

[Jwo85]

I don't see any point to white flight. So you move away from a black's, then in about 10 years or less blacks move into the white area and you continue to move out of that community and in about the same time again blacks move into the white area again.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Jwo85

I don't see any point to white flight. So you move away from a black's, then in about 10 years or less blacks move into the white area and you continue to move out of that community and in about the same time again blacks move into the white area again.

You make a very good point. This pattern is very visible. I speak from experience. I lived in Marietta,GA(a suburb of Atlanta) and it was(and is) a diverse suburb. I moved to Paulding County in August 1997 and ended up the only black person in my homeroom class and only saw a few Blacks most of the time. That changed at the turn of this century when more Blacks started moving out the Paulding County.

[Bhaalspawn]

Originally Posted by Jwo85

I don't see any point to white flight. So you move away from a black's, then in about 10 years or less blacks move into the white area and you continue to move out of that community and in about the same time again blacks move into the white area again.

It depends on where you relocated. For example, if you had fled Southfield in the mid-1980's for Novi or West Bloomfield I'm pretty sure you still wouldn't feel a need to flee Novi or West Bloomfield today. Even Farmington Hills, which borders Southfield and is closer to Detroit, is still in good shape.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

It depends on where you relocated. For example, if you had fled Southfield in the mid-1980's for Novi or West Bloomfield I'm pretty sure you still wouldn't feel a need to flee Novi or West Bloomfield today. Even Farmington Hills, which borders Southfield and is closer to Detroit, is still in good shape.

I don't know if you read this person's post fully. What he meant was there there is no point in trying to avoid blacks because they will be on the move as well, unless you are suggesting that blacks moving into another area is bad, in which I hope you're not saying that.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

It depends on where you relocated. For example, if you had fled Southfield in the mid-1980's for Novi or West Bloomfield I'm pretty sure you still wouldn't feel a need to flee Novi or West Bloomfield today. Even Farmington Hills, which borders Southfield and is closer to Detroit, is still in good shape.

Is Southfield in "bad" shape? It looked like a suburb that changed in demographics, but the quality hasn't declined much, if at all. That seem to happen to where it is perceived that when demographics changes in terms of race and ethnicity, that the quality of the community does as well. That isn't necessarily true.