Segregation in Chicago (Cicero, Evanston, Oak Park: credit, income, property taxes) - Illinois (IL) - Page 10 - City-Data Forum

whinniethezen · 08-19-2009, 09:32 PM

Tonight I watched an HD program about the great city of Chicago.
Holy smoke Chicago's history has been rough. Everything from race riots to massive crime waves.. to Martial Law and bloody democratic conventions. One thing really caught my attention was something the Chicago historians said, that racial tensions and closet racism in Chicago never truly recovered after whites returned from WW1 to find their jobs taken over. That racism (between blacks and whites) has continued to run fairly deep to this day and is often handed down from one generation to the next.
As I look into the quality of life issues in Chicago, this one concerns my family greatly. More and more I am reading that Chicagoans are hard to read when it comes racism. Is Chicago still the city that Dr. King called "the most racially divided city in America"?

Venom · 08-19-2009, 09:54 PM

Well, most outsiders still go by the "Northside is white people and southside is black people" thing.

But it's much more then that and there is more then white and black.

Drover · 08-19-2009, 10:46 PM

Black segregation is still very pronounced, and pockets of majority-ethnic neighborhoods can be found here and there. But "other-than-black" ethnicities live side by side in the spaces between the majority pockets without a lot of drama.

chirack · 08-19-2009, 11:06 PM

As a black person living in chicago, ah while it is true the city is pretty segeragted it is something that is changing.

The northside of chicago is truely a mix of races and nationalities. The southside tends to be all one thing or another. While I do think it is possible for this city to have a race riot, I don't think it is likely. Daley, like him or hate him has done much to repair race relations in the city.

MTUCache · 08-20-2009, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whinniethezen

Is Chicago still the city that Dr. King called "the most racially divided city in America"?

Having moved here recently from Detroit, I can tell you that you guys aren't even close to as segregated.

Honestly, I've been impressed by the amount of diversity here. Sure, I admit I haven't been here long enough to feel any underlying tension, if there is any, but it doesn't in any way feel divided or segregated in the areas I've been in (mostly the Loop and north).

Detroit could build a 15 foot high wall between 8 Mile and 9 Mile and I don't think 90% of the people who live there would notice it. People who live within the city rarely venture out, and people who live outside the city (i.e. 99% of the white people in the area) would never dream of going into the city unless they were going to the stadiums/casinos.

Lookout Kid · 08-20-2009, 07:29 AM

Chicago certainly has segregation issues, but they are not that different from the issues experienced in other large, older cities. Places like Gary, Detroit, Milwaukee, and even New York City are more segregated than Chicago according to the U.S. Census Bureau segregation index calculations.

skipcromer · 08-20-2009, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Chicago certainly has segregation issues, but they are not that different from the issues experienced in other large, older cities. Places like Gary, Detroit, Milwaukee, and even New York City are more segregated than Chicago according to the U.S. Census Bureau segregation index calculations.

Even 'newer' cities such as Atlanta have segregation issues.

Chi-town Native · 08-20-2009, 07:47 AM

and hell, let's not even talk about the suburbs - is Chicago segregated the way, say, Barrington is? I think not. I'd really like to see examples of similarly sized cities that aren't segregated in some form or another - you have to keep in mind Chicago is a very young city by global standards, and when people immigrate to a new place, they tend to cluster for language reasons if nothing else.

Chicago60614 · 08-20-2009, 08:06 AM

Chicago is segregared, but it always has been. Most cities are fairly segregated on some level, but Chicago is just a much larger picture than most.

I've been here 8 years and I don't think you can really say segregation = racism. There is racism in Chicago, but I haven't noticed it being worse here than other places all around the country. It's certainly not THE WORST. The 50's and 60's were another animal all together. That outright racism saw whites flee just because of the skin color moving into their areas. The white people today aren't going to be running just because of skin color, or freaking out in general. They're going to be reacting to other factors in the city.

Bar far the biggest issue here is crime. Around 76% of the homicides in the city are commited by blacks (almost always on other blacks), 18% are hispanic, and around 6% are whites. Compare that to the population which is 35% black, 32% white, 28% hispanic and 5% asian.

The racism here focuses more on the fact that blacks tend to cause a lot of the crime (see, even as I write this I"m thinking - don't say that! it's racist!). I'm not saying it that way though, but just because in general it's a trend. People have "issues" with races in this city much more because of crime reasons than actually just true and blue racism.

I have a lot of black friends, and for whatever reason, a TON of hispanic friends for being a white kid who moved from out of state on the north side. I don't flinch at a person's skin color, and couldn't care either way. I have to say though that if I'm walking late at night and there's not many people around, if I'm confronted by a group of young black kids compared to young white kids - my mind unthinkingly reacts differently.

Anyway, blah blah blah. Chicago IS segregated, racism isn't really a crippling huge problem in the city, and most everyone just gets along fine. People tend to just stay in their own little pockets of the city save for downtown, and don't bother with anyone else.

Milwaukee City · 08-20-2009, 08:29 AM

Now before everyone jumps all over me hear me out. Why is segregation a bad thing? I'm just playing devils advocate here. First how did cities become seg.? probably b/c of language and culture and a level of comfort. Now most immigrants prefer to live amongst their kind ie: blacks, mexicans, polish but let's take it a step further. Ever notice we all are in groups or seg. into our own areas? such yuppies like to be around other yuppies and blue collar workers like being next to people they can relate to and college kids enjoy being around other college kids. Why does seg. matter if that's what the people who live their want? it's politicians and statistics that tell us segregation is bad. People have the freedom to move so since the people who live in these areas aren't complaining why are we? if after all we all come together downtown, festivals, ballgames, parks, etc. I have still have friends that want to be by other Puerto Ricans so who cares! bums like to be by other bums. We all kind of run in packs. This day in age even though their are ethnic enclaves it's not like you never see or hear of anyone other than the dominate ethnic group in that neighborhood.

Crime: if we mixed everyone together proportionally crime would spread to other Lilly white areas, crime would be more spread out then, in theory you wouldn't have extreme safe areas anymore. If we have seg. you kind of in a way keep crime contained. I'm not advocating this I'm just pointing it out.

Bottom line: if Blacks want to live by Blacks and Asians want to live by other Asians who cares!!!!!!
I think we are all adult enough to act like adults when we encounter other races, just b/c we live separate doesn't mean their will always be tension.