How mixed-race neighborhoods quietly became the norm in the U.S.

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/04/mixed-race-neighborhoods/

Gift Link, no paywall: https://wapo.st/3UxOqfh

Deep in the bowels of the nation’s 2020 Census lurks a quiet milestone: For the first time in modern American history, most White people live in mixed-race neighborhoods.

This marks a tectonic shift from just a generation ago.

Back in 1990, 78 percent of White people lived in predominantly White neighborhoods, where at least 4 of every 5 people were also White. In the 2020 Census, that’s plunged to 44 percent.

Large pockets of segregation remain, but as America’s White population shrinks for the first time and Hispanic, Asian, Black and Native Americans fuel the nation’s growth, diverse neighborhoods have expanded from urban cores into suburbs that once were colored by a steady stream of White flight from inner cities.

Across the 9,700 neighborhoods that became mixed in 2020, White population dropped by almost 300,000. Meanwhile, the number of Hispanics jumped by 1.5 million, the largest part of a 4.3 million increase in non-Whites in those neighborhoods.

This demographic shift has scrambled the nation’s politics, introducing new groups of often left-leaning voters into typically conservative White-dominated enclaves, according to Chris Maggio, a sociologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Department of Criminology, Law and Justice.

There are good graphs and charts at the link that can help explain some of the angst that racists are feeling as their suburbs diversify. GOP may not have the lock on suburbs that they used to. Tons of suburban house districts are more competitive for us than they used to be.

[elleng]

1. Thank goodness for that!

Such are the only neighborhoods and schools my daughters (and hence grandchildren) live in and WANT to attend.

THANK GOODNESS!

[mnhtnbb]

2. In my new development

I have Black, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Indian, Canadian and even Republican neighbors. People have moved here from California, New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Texas, DC, Ohio and other states. I haven't lived in such a diverse setting since I lived in a dorm at UCLA as a college student in 1969-70.

"Here" is southwest Durham, NC, one of the most progressive counties in NC.

[elleng]

6. SUCH good news!

[Walleye]

3. My little neighborhood here in Joe Biden's corner of Delaware has become wonderfully diverse

I lived for years in Hell’s kitchen in Manhattan and I really appreciate a diverse population. I feel more at home and safer in a diverse group than I do among all white people like me.

[haele]

4. Diverse Neighborhoods tend to equal healthier great food.

Just my experience. Even food trucks and sidewalk vendor food is better tasting and typically fresher, healthier, and in a way, more joyful.

I know it's a shallow observation, but that's been my experience.

Haele

[IronLionZion]

5. Taco truck on every corner!

[haele]

7. Just about like that here in San Diego...food trucks all over the place.

Let's see, there's the Mariscos (basically Baja seafood tacos) trucks, the Korean/Mexican fusion taco trucks, the home made Carnitas (smoked spiced pulled pork) taco trucks, the Thai burger (using sticky rice patties for buns) burger and taco trucks, and the, of course, all the drive-through 'bertos Norte-California "Mexican" style cooking booths.
Not to mention that apparently the best Shwarma in the whole USA is run out of two food trucks in El Cajon.
Along with the various huge mobile BBQ smokers that will pull into strip mall parking lots over the weekends for a couple dozen hours so people can get their pit-master fixes.

We even have pizza ovens on trailers that can be set up at events or for catering. 😉

It's a bit more difficult to find an Asian cuisine, but between the vietnamese Binh sandwich trucks and Japanese noodle (Ramen), trucks, it can be found. Just waiting for an Ethiopian truck to start up with fresh injira!

Haele

[Hekate]

9. My mouth is watering just reading your post

[hunter]

8. I grew up in a place that was suburban, affluent, and 99% white.

It was kept that way by various unethical, and later illegal, means. Redlining did not go away with the Civil Rights Act, it just went underground. And the cops felt it was their duty to harass people who "didn't belong." The funny thing was I'll bet most of the residents considered themselves "color blind" and were only mildly curious, if at all, why the town was like this. It was just normal that somehow most everyone would be white. And Christian too, or at the very least Catholic, which was sort of like being Christian but wouldn't actually keep you out of hell.

My wife and I very deliberately decided not to raise our own children in such an environment.

Moving to places with greater diversity as a young adult, I remember feeling awkward and uncomfortable around people who were not white or didn't speak English as their first language. It took me a year or two of living and working in places where the majority of people were not white like me to get over it.

Our children never experienced that. Culturally diverse neighborhoods are their "normal" and this may be one reason they choose to live in big cities.

This increasing diversity in U.S.A. neighborhoods is a very good thing. I wish racist white U.S.A. would fade away in silence, not violence and deceit.

[Dysfunctional]

10. I was living in Roxbury, a part of Boston in 1943, when I was born.

I lived in an area that was about 50% White and 50% Black. People were not classified by the color of their skin.