And that forfeit is partly our fault (the white middle class). When blacks began to buy homes and move into neighborhoods, many whites fled in panic before bothering to find out what their new neighbors were really like. Most of the new arrivals were business people, workers in pretty well paid occupations, the occasional lawyer or doctor, folks with the down payment and the qualifications to get a mortgage. It wasn't that easy back in the 50s, some of you will remember. This was before the drug explosion, section 8, welfare, etc.
But the white flight was an opportunity for absentee owner investors to buy properties at bargain prices and make a good buck on rentals. And when the Great Society welfare/section 8 stuff heated up, since they didn't have to live there they went with the flow. That was the beginning of the end.
The thing is IMHO is not the black people moving in, its their friends and relatives who cause the trouble when they come to visit or stay awhile. They have no investment in the ‘hood so they don’t care.