How come North Chicago suburbs are predominantly White? (Skokie, Highland Park: low income, homes)

[Arian5850]

A title like that makes one think that this is a troll/bait post looking to cause trouble, however I'm genuinely curious as to why North suburbs in Chicago like Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park etc. are so white. I'm an Accountant living in the Skokie area, and on the weekends (when it's not tax season) I drive for Doordash and sometimes the destination is in North suburbs. It can be very uncomfortable for a person of color , like the other day I picked up an order from a restaurant in Winnetka , there was an outdoor dining area and i kid you not it was 100% white (As i walked past them I felt like I did not belong there) when I opened the entrance door a white family was leaving so I held the door open for them they were just staring at me and didn't say "thanks" or smile or anything, it very well could be that they were just not nice and had nothing to do with me being South Asian but it still made things more uncomfortable for me. On one hand I can see why they want to live in that area it has gorgeous homes and exceptional schools, however I am sure there are many Asians, Latinos and Blacks that are well off and hence can afford to live there, but I couldn't find any in those areas. If we look at the statistics , great numbers of Asian Americans and other minorities are supposedly doing well financially but do they choose not to live amongst Whites? or are they not welcomed in those communities?

I should also make it very clear that those White folks should have the liberty to live wherever they please even if it means isolating themselves from non-whites, my question is it all deliberate on their part or there's more to it that I am ignorant about?

[StuckInIllinois]

My guess would be because these areas have a lot of "old money" folks which probably tend to be white. For example, asians are doing very well financially but a lot of them are starting from nothing and it's their children who are starting to do well but they end up settling in other areas that are more reasonable.

[BRU67]

Well, to put it gently, that's partly because virtue signaling affluent people, who are mostly white, like to impart their wisdom upon the rest of us from a good distance. We need to keep them safe and all.

The rest of it is the result of whites moving to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, converting formerly all white neighborhoods like Austin and Garfield Park to nearly 100% African American within a span of 10 years. The back to the city movement, which started about 35 years ago, has not made much change in African American neighborhoods. It's mostly impacted Hispanic neighborhoods. Very disappointing given the social justice rhetoric we've been hearing as of late.

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by Arian5850

A title like that makes one think that this is a troll/bait post looking to cause trouble, however I'm genuinely curious as to why North suburbs in Chicago like Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park etc. are so white. I'm an Accountant living in the Skokie area, and on the weekends (when it's not tax season) I drive for Doordash and sometimes the destination is in North suburbs. It can be very uncomfortable for a person of color , like the other day I picked up an order from a restaurant in Winnetka , there was an outdoor dining area and i kid you not it was 100% white (As i walked past them I felt like I did not belong there) when I opened the entrance door a white family was leaving so I held the door open for them they were just staring at me and didn't say "thanks" or smile or anything, it very well could be that they were just not nice and had nothing to do with me being South Asian but it still made things more uncomfortable for me. On one hand I can see why they want to live in that area it has gorgeous homes and exceptional schools, however I am sure there are many Asians, Latinos and Blacks that are well off and hence can afford to live there, but I couldn't find any in those areas. If we look at the statistics , great numbers of Asian Americans and other minorities are supposedly doing well financially but do they choose not to live amongst Whites? or are they not welcomed in those communities?

I should also make it very clear that those White folks should have the liberty to live wherever they please even if it means isolating themselves from non-whites, my question is it all deliberate on their part or there's more to it that I am ignorant about?

I grew up partially in Glencoe. Glencoe has a small but well-known and high-profile African-American community. There is also an African Methodist Episcopal church in town. Glencoe and Highland Park may be very white, but both of those communities are also predominately (at least historically) Jewish, which is a less visible minority.

[Howest2008]

Originally Posted by Arian5850

A title like that makes one think that this is a troll/bait post looking to cause trouble, however I'm genuinely curious as to why North suburbs in Chicago like Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park etc. are so white. I'm an Accountant living in the Skokie area, and on the weekends (when it's not tax season) I drive for Doordash and sometimes the destination is in North suburbs. It can be very uncomfortable for a person of color , like the other day I picked up an order from a restaurant in Winnetka , there was an outdoor dining area and i kid you not it was 100% white (As i walked past them I felt like I did not belong there) when I opened the entrance door a white family was leaving so I held the door open for them they were just staring at me and didn't say "thanks" or smile or anything, it very well could be that they were just not nice and had nothing to do with me being South Asian but it still made things more uncomfortable for me. On one hand I can see why they want to live in that area it has gorgeous homes and exceptional schools, however I am sure there are many Asians, Latinos and Blacks that are well off and hence can afford to live there, but I couldn't find any in those areas. If we look at the statistics , great numbers of Asian Americans and other minorities are supposedly doing well financially but do they choose not to live amongst Whites? or are they not welcomed in those communities?

I should also make it very clear that those White folks should have the liberty to live wherever they please even if it means isolating themselves from non-whites, my question is it all deliberate on their part or there's more to it that I am ignorant about?

Because all of those communities are AA Communities passing as White Communities.

[Grlzrl]

I guess it never occurred to you that blacks don't want to live there? (self seggregate)

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Grlzrl

I guess it never occurred to you that blacks don't want to live there? (self seggregate)

Doubtful. There are significant economic barriers to entry into those communities, and that's not unintended. I always found it funny that North Shore communities do not mandate that new residential housing developments - to the extent you can even build them with their restrictive zoning regulations - have a specific percentage of low income units like developments in the city must.

This will not change until mandated at the federal or state level. The Obama Administration was looking at this pretty closely, and I have heard it being mentioned by the Biden Administration too. Hopefully this changes.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

I grew up partially in Glencoe. Glencoe has a small but well-known and high-profile African-American community. There is also an African Methodist Episcopal church in town. Glencoe and Highland Park may be very white, but both of those communities are also predominately (at least historically) Jewish, which is a less visible minority.

It must be very small indeed. African Americans make up 1.2% of Glencoe's population. Since 8,800 people live there, that means there are only about 100 or so!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen...e%20population.

[BOS2IAD]

OP---By saying "South Asian" are you saying you are of East Indian descent? If so, do you live in a predominately East Indian community? If so, then there is some irony in your post.

[ben young]

I think the OP is implying the Northern communities need a good dose of BLM and not only by donations.