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Sacramento: The Most Integrated Major City in the US... who knew...
I visited NYC several years back and found it rather disappointing on a neighborhood level. I do love NYC for the entertainment.
"Most integrated" is codespeak for "few African Americans". "Most segregated" is codespeak for "many African Americans".
Every city on the "most integrated" list has almost no blacks, and every city on the "most segregated" list has a huge % of blacks. Irvine ("most integrated") isn't really "better" than New Orleans ("most segregated'); it's just that Irvine is all upper class Asian and White, so why would there be segregation?
Interesting how the most integrated cities and the ones with the highest diversity at the neighborhood level are predominantly Western (with Texas being the exception), while the most segregated are in the Midwest, South and East. Chicago is just ridiculous.
Personally, it doesn't change my perception of my hometown, since I grew up in Orange County (home to Irvine), and many North OC cities aren't that different from Irvine in both how diverse and integrated they area. To the right of us we had an elderly Korean couple, to the left a mixed white-Hispanic family. Further, down the street you could find Filipinos, Indians, Arabs/Muslims, mixed black families etc. On the same street where my family attended church (Catholic), there were several Korean Christian churches, a Baptist Church, a Sikh temple, an Islamic center...and not far around the block, a Jain temple. My group of best friends in high school was like a mini United Nations. This is what I grew up with as my "normal", so it has always been a shock to me when I find out how so many places are so segregated.
I wonder what difference in culture different cities and states have that favor or disfavor integration.
Interesting how the most integrated cities and the ones with the highest diversity at the neighborhood level are predominantly Western (with Texas being the exception), while the most segregated are in the Midwest, South and East. Chicago is just ridiculous.
The West Coast doesn't have many blacks. It isn't more tolerant, just fewer blacks. Unfortunately we in the U.S. are somewhat segregated between African Americans and everyone else.
I lived about five miles from Irvine (Corona del Mar) and Irvine isn't more or less tolerant than anywhere else. But it's first on the list because 1. It's big enough to qualify (most suburbs are too small) and 2. Diverse but with basically no black people. But it isn't like Irvine is more "tolerant" than the cities on the bottom of the list. If a bunch of poor African Americans moved to Irvine it would segregate super-quick; the Chinese tiger moms would raise hell.
Interesting how the most integrated cities and the ones with the highest diversity at the neighborhood level are predominantly Western (with Texas being the exception), while the most segregated are in the Midwest, South and East. Chicago is just ridiculous.
The West is the least Black region of the US, and segregation is higher in cities with large Black populations.
Blacks aren't really part of the American "melting pot." Residential concentrations among Asian groups and Hispanics, I think it's fair to say, are mostly a product of immigration, where they can find community institutions, count on the language being spoken etc. These can range from poor barrios and Chinatowns to the more affluent "ethnoburbs" where Asian immigrants often directly settle.
Most Asian and Hispanic Americans are 1st or 2nd generation, if you look at the 3rd generation and beyond there's probably little residential segregation at all.
In New York, where the Black population is probably about 50% Caribbean origin, there's an African American melting pot. Caribbean immigrants settled in Black neighborhoods and the American-born assimilate into the broader African American community.
Blacks aren't really part of the American "melting pot." Residential concentrations among Asian groups and Hispanics, I think it's fair to say, are mostly a product of immigration, where they can find community institutions, count on the language being spoken etc. These can range from poor barrios and Chinatowns to the more affluent "ethnoburbs" where Asian immigrants often directly settle.
Most Asian and Hispanic Americans are 1st or 2nd generation, if you look at the 3rd generation and beyond there's probably little residential segregation at all.
In New York, where the Black population is probably about 50% Caribbean origin, there's an African American melting pot. Caribbean immigrants settled in Black neighborhoods and the American-born assimilate into the broader African American community.
Well this is where census data has its limitations. I would consider Carribean and African immigrants mixing in with the native black community as integration. They aren't a monolithic group after all, and speak several different languages, with various religious backgrounds. Nonetheless, on the Census map, as long as it just reads them as 'black', it will gives a city phenotype of very limited integration...which is false when we step outside the American boundaries of race.
BTW, the black kids in my high school in the tiny city of La Palma in North OC were small population wise, but highly diverse, hailing from Guyana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana and Louisiana. My best friend was AA (with roots in Georgia) and Chinese (she wasn't even the only Asian-Black mixed kid in the school either, as there were a few others). This is only a small sample within my own circle of friends. My point is though is that the place where I grew up is pretty much an immigrant friendly town, where people from all backgrounds make it their home. I'm not saying it's a perfect place that should be emulated, far from it...as it is a little too suburban/boring and a bit conservative in nature (for me).
The most segregated cities in the US also had histories of large scale race riots in the past (and present). The most integrated cities are relatively new and fortunately doesn't share this history of racial tensions. Due to these events, it led to voluntary segregation and hasn't really changed since then. It will always be the newer cities/suburbs that will be the most integrated, while the older more established cities are segregated.
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