Do you Have a Solution for the segregation in Chicago? (Lincoln: section 8, cheap apartments)

[chubs]

[chicagobear]

I don't see that there is a problem. People are free to live anywhere they want as long as they can afford it. There are whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics in my neighborhood. If people choose to live in certain neighborhoods with others of their race, that is their right.

[gomexico]

Originally Posted by chubs

Other than segregation brought on by economic conditions - income levels and cheap apartments which serve the bottom of the rental market - "segregation" iin Chicago is mostly self imposed. That's how it's been for the past 30+ years.

[coldwine]

I feel as though time and society have moved on, despite large pockets of our fellow Americans who were left behind.

There is much real injustice at play when it comes to segregation. And I do not simply mean "white vs black", which is of course the intention behind this thread.

It is easier to solve segregation when people are more polarized. It is easier to be polarized when the majority has and the minority do not. We as a nation are so far gone from those days that most of us have other severe problems demanding our time and attention.

So... what would we do? What is actually the problem? Is it that Chicago has such a vast population of generational welfare recipients who are mostly black? Is it the utterly diminished white middle class who for so long sustained the tax base? Is it the failure of programs on every level designed to address these problems? I'm not asking in vain; I'm very seriously pondering these questions.

Largely, I believe that we live in a post-racial world. Feminism died in the early 80's when the truths and realities of the struggles women faced became understood as real. And as something they (we) would simply have to face and wait for time to change. I think racial segregation is a bad topic because despite everything, certain "races" in our nation have been at the bottom since before we were a country. Mostly it just isn't relevant anymore. We have accepted the facts as facts, and most people are too busy for casual racism.

It is difficult to really posit a solution to something we are not allowed to discuss as stemming from social, cultural or (god forbid) genetic origin. Our politicians, both of them, believe that there really is such a thing as a one-size-fits-all solution to be applied to large groups of people.

My proposed solution? As in all things, wait. Be patient. Breath quietly, do not move and listen to the voices in the crowd. You learn volumes about real issues when you watch people, really watch them.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by RiverRise

The same thing exists in other places as well. In NYC it's borough vs. borough. I don't know why people act like Chicago is a special case. Maybe it's more pronounced here, but there are very few truly integrated places in America. In the world, for that matter.

You are right. Every city has their annoying social issues that drives negative conversations about race. One thing I hate about what Ive seen in Chicago is how quick people are to claim how liberal they are but turn out to be so closed minded they are ignorant to what is actually going on within their own city.

One thing I like about Chicago is that its easy live around like minded people. Im a progressive that love being around freethinking liberated people. Ive found my nitch quicker in Chicago than I have in other smaller cities.

Please dont deny the fact that segregation does have its negatives and how it impact the racial climate of a city.

[Chi-town Native]

Well, there's a big mixed message you see in Chicago. Chinatown = good. It's a way to experience "culture." Greektown = good. Although there are few Greeks, there are some nifty kabob joints. Lincoln Square = good. German Oktoberfest drinking. Devon & Western = good, killer Indian buffets, real ethnic groceries, etc., etc.

But black neighborhoods don't get described as good, even though it is where you go to experience, say, a real blues or jazz club, or ribs. Or maybe this guy:

jonesbigasswebsiteandmerchandisecenter » BBQ and Foot Massage

I think it has mostly to do with a lack of an organized advertising/commercial effort by black merchants to bring people into the neighborhoods to shop. Not to live & displace people, just to experience something authentic. Too many Chicagoans now think an "authentic" experience in black Chicago is getting jumped or buying drugs (see that odd Green Line thread).

It's a dilemma - if you don't have any "segregation" in the sense of similar people/cultures clustered, your citty has no character and nobody will want to live there. But apparently, the darker the skin of the people, the more reluctant people are to give their culture a chance.

So here's a recommendation for people interested in checking out something different on the south side, where you will be greeted by the nicest people imaginable:

Soul Vegetarian East - Greater Grand Crossing - Chicago, IL

Truly, in a story of pure yet unintentional hilarity, I reconnected with an old friend (he's black, but I can't bring myself to think of him as an "old black friend") from high school a few years back.

He was living in Brooklyn, and suggested we meet at a Starbucks in Hyde Park, which just made me crack up a bit, as I know he was certainly just trying to be nice, so I suggested Soul Vegetarian East, and I'll tell you, even though I'm the vegetarian I think he had a better time as he had never heard of it. I am sure there are dozens upon dozens of places like this.

[Chicago60614]

I guess it's because I live in Uptown, but I still SEE white, black, hispanic and asian people every day, all day long. Even when I was living on Diversey it's not like I didn't see black people working in the neighborhood, hispanic people working at the stores and restaurants, asians in the stores, people walking around. It's not like there are walls up where you see NO other races and don't know they exist. At least not along the northern lakefront.

I get on the Red Line every morning and it's a complete mixed bag of people. I walk to work in the Loop and it's a complete mixed bag of people.

The city is basically 1/3 white, hispanic and black. People might live segregated, but they move around the city every day without outright hostility towards one another. I sat by a black woman on the train today - neither one of us seemed to care too much about the fact we were together.

I would guess it's the more poor black areas on the west and south sides that probably have the greatest degree of one race in the area at all times. I've been around Englewood or Austin and it seemed much more black everywhere than Lincoln Park or Lakeview seem exclusively white. At least walking the streets.

[linicx]

Chicago is very honest about what it is and what it is not. The black history in Chicago is older than the Civil War. Not all black/white cities in Illinois have the same degree of segregation as Chicago. But the poorest neighborhoods have the same problems coast to coast. Chicago is not unusual. It is just larger and therefore more often in the national conscience.

Chicago is nothing like the deep south where blacks still step and fetch. Fear is a very compelling reason

[Chi-town Native]

Lots of good thoughts. I think it's kind of a tricky question, in that the real solution people want (or I'd hope they want) is to address and correct the chronically impoverished black neighborhoods. But that comes with some risk, as usually government efforts to do this are actually just attempts to whitewash gentrification, which is definitely not really a solution.

University Village comes to mind as something which I'd say ABLA homes residents would certainly see not as a solution but as a forced relocation.

Are there good examples to look at which have actually been rising tides raising all ships as opposed to just gentrification? I'm sadly unaware of any. Uptown is diverse largely due to long-entrenched section 8 and other government-assisted housing. I have long suspected that people in the know are buying up properties in Uptown left and right, as you can look at the South Loop to see what happens when a homeless shelter or other section 8 housing magically disappears overnight.

[Mr.Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

The condescending tone doesn't help your cause, but I'd certainly be interested in knowing of any lawbreaking which is keeping poor people down.

I wasn't being condescending. You sometimes misunderstand me...just like when you thought I stated all Mexicans were illigal immigrants. I stated "some".

I used to work at a bank many years ago. The higher ups came to us and informed us that some people may walk into the bank and inquire about the Community Reinvestment Act (basically when banks open branches in a neighborhood). The reason we were being trained on this is because the bank was afraid we'd get tested and fail the test. As employees we had to know about the Act. Banks had not been opening up branches in many AA neighborhoods. That was against the law. In Chicago banks started opening up branches sometime in the 90s. When banks started doing this gentrification started as well. Why would banks start abiding by that law then? Why weren't they doing it all along? Why wasn't this upper middle class AA community stepping up to the plate and calling banks on this?

fyi..these are facts, so there really isn't much debating to do about this....have a great day I have an appointment