This graphic of how black people have left LA county in the past 30 years is pretty interesting. Elsewhere, I mentioned the movement toward Lancaster/Palmdale in
Northern LA County. I wonder if you included just Los Angeles City what this would look like. I bet the drop is a
lot more than 14%.
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I will have to find the name of the reference, but I was discussing this apparent dynamic with someone; cities used to be white because most Black people were in the South after the Civil War. However, terrorism forced many to flee, precipitating the Great Migration. There was also the promise of manufacturing jobs in cities, that led many to seek a life heading North and West. When Black people arrived, white flight began. Pair that with the government backed mortgages that helped grow the white middle class, while simultaneously denying those same opportunities Black people, along with redlining, and you have the recipe for the modern ghettoes of the United States.
With a primarily black and brown populace in cities, we saw a lot of disinvestment, making those areas worse, which is conveniently blamed on the people they trapped in those spaces. There was a stasis where Black people were told, to get a better life (education, jobs, wealth, etc.), you need to move to the suburbs. What happened? You now see Black people moving into suburbs to achieve the wealth that was once cutoff from them. Of course, the mortgages they received were far more predatory, but what's more important is what happened after. It was either
The Color of Law or
Racism Without Racists where people were asked what level of diversity do they consider to be acceptable. For black people that number was around 65%, for white people that number was around 15%. In short, if 50% of a community became white, black people would be fine with it; in contrast, white people begin moving out when when less than half that percentage becomes black in their community.
So we see this reversal, where many young, white urban professionals begin to move back into cities... that came with police presence and investment into these areas. As a result, cities have become extremely expensive areas to live in, and property that was once labeled as blighted has been snatched up by developers to make room for housing that is far from affordable. Meanwhile in the suburbs, we're seeing disinvestment in our suburban schools; many programs that once existed, get cut to only allow the bare minimum. I see a cycle developing here, where that 15% attitude drives where investment lies and how stable a community is. In my opinion, we have to break that cycle if we wish to move forward.