There may have been a "white flight" to suburbia, but it seems the ones who stayed are doing really well
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Why are there so many racially-oriented threads on the General U.S. forum? Who cares? I'm a middle-class white guy myself, and I think it's sad that there are so many reminders out there that by and large the Hispanic and African-American communities are still having such a difficult struggle to achieve socioeconomic equality.
Why are there so many racially-oriented threads on the General U.S. forum? Who cares? I'm a middle-class white guy myself, and I think it's sad that there are so many reminders out there that by and large the Hispanic and African-American communities are still having such a difficult struggle to achieve socioeconomic equality.
Re: 'Hispanics'; most of them are White, racially/ethnically speaking although many of them here in the USA have American Indian (Aztec, Maya, etc) in their lineage.
Even Spanish surnames do not always denote Hispanic/Latino------virtually all Filipinos have identical names as well as some American Indians like the Navajo/Apache. And; in many cases; Portuguese/Italian last names are also used in Spanish based culture.
Why are there so many racially-oriented threads on the General U.S. forum? Who cares? I'm a middle-class white guy myself, and I think it's sad that there are so many reminders out there that by and large the Hispanic and African-American communities are still having such a difficult struggle to achieve socioeconomic equality.
I agree with your sympathy about the struggle you speak about, Scranton. I didn't interpret the OP's post that way. I honestly think find it interesting to see how cities creatively change and how a previously "bad" area eventually becomes a desirable area.
It seems that despite the huge white flight to suburbia that took place in the mid to late 20th century, the white families that still live in major us cities are doing quite well in many municipalities
In other words, there's the well off and the poor. Not much of a middle class.
I agree with your sympathy about the struggle you speak about, Scranton. I didn't interpret the OP's post that way. I honestly think find it interesting to see how cities creatively change and how a previously "bad" area eventually becomes a desirable area.
Any time you talk about white-flight or gentrification/displacement, race is going to become a factor.
But white-flight did happen, and gentrification is still happening as we speak. And since both are large demographic movements, its greatly interesting to many people that read these message boards. People are interested in city-living again. Baby boomers left the cities for the suburbs during white-flight decades ago. Now they're coming back to retire. Their children are now grown up and are interested in coming back to inner cities with all the services and amenities that come with them.
I really don't know what to think of gentrification. On one hand, it's brought a lot of pride back into many cities, and that can be reflected when you read posts on this board.
Washington D.C. has been long known as "Murder Capital of the World", or the city that elected a crack-cocaine abuser as mayor, TWICE. Now, ten years later, crime rates are much lower and the city is enjoying another renaissance. Development all over the city has made it lively day and night, and many neighborhoods are beautiful again. People are actually moving into D.C. instead of out.
The same goes with New York and Chicago. So many of the run-down neighborhoods are now redeveloped and high in demand. Both had poor images in the 1980's. Now, both are considered desirable places to live. Look at how much pride there is when City-Data posters talk about their cities now.
On the other hand, the displacement that goes with gentrifying is saddening. So many people forced out of their homes because of developers or being priced out of their neighborhoods. People who've lived in those homes for generations. Harlem has long been known as a root of African-American culture, and many of its residents just can not afford to live there anymore.
In other words, there's the well off and the poor. Not much of a middle class.
That's where the state of NJ is heading btw.
True, now it's the well off and the poor on the West and East coasts. The middle class is heading to the Sunbelt.
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I'm a middle-class white guy myself, and I think it's sad that there are so many reminders out there that by and large the Hispanic and African-American communities are still having such a difficult struggle to achieve socioeconomic equality. 
