Posted on 11/27/2006 6:55:39 PM PST by blam
White flight 'increasing segregation'
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 2:01am GMT 28/11/2006
The flight of the middle classes from the inner cities is threatening to undo 30 years of progress that has made Britain the best place in Europe for ethnic minorities, the country's race equality chief said yesterday.
Trevor Phillips, the outgoing chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), said increased polarisation and segregation in areas deserted by the better-off was "the great threat" to the development of a diverse and harmonious society.
Trevor Phillips: warnings
Speaking at a conference in London to mark the 30th anniversary of the Race Relations Act, which set up the CRE, he said: "Britain is by far the best place in Europe to live if you are not white."
But he feared that trends unforeseen in the 1970s were placing this in jeopardy.
"As a nation we are becoming more ethnically segregated by residence and inequality is being amplified by our separate lives," he said.
"The real crisis lies in the areas which the middle-class minorities are leaving behind — areas which are becoming more and more ethnically concentrated and exclusive."
Research commissioned by the CRE for the convention showed that despite the greater number of ethnic minorities in Britain, few mixed. Two out of three people hardly ever choose to meet someone of a different ethnicity in their own homes.
Success: Brick Lane has a strong Bangladeshi community
A quarter of Britons want to live in an all-white area and more than half — including those from ethnic minorities — think there is too much immigration. More and more communities were "shut off" and vulnerable to political and religious extremism.
Mr Phillips said the public education system should be teaching children to live together but appeared to be doing the opposite. Nine of the country's best universities did not have more than 30 African Caribbean students.
His warnings about deepening divisions have landed him in hot water with some race lobbyists and led Ken Livingstone, the London mayor, to boycott the conference.
But Mr Phillips has become increasingly concerned that the departure of the predominantly white middle classes from the inner cities — and out of the country altogether in some cases — will make the creation of a multi-ethnic society harder to achieve.
advertisementHe said the ethnic changes taking place in parts of our country were the most rapid ever known.
"But the change isn't just one of sheer numbers. It is also characterised by a new fierceness with which people express the aspects of their identity — heritage, ethnicity, faith — that make them different from their neighbours."
Official internal migration figures show that white and ethnic minority communities are becoming increasingly separated by growing levels of population movement.
A study last year based on the 2001 census found evidence for the first time in Britain of what is known in America as "white flight", as middle-class families — including those of Asian background in some parts of England — leave areas of high ethnic minority populations.
Opening the convention, Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, said: "The challenge is how we ensure diversity does not become separation. It is about the hard graft of breaking down distrust and building up a shared sense of purpose and belonging, about creating opportunities for interaction as well as respecting differences."
Maybe they should check Jackson, Mississippi out first.
The whites are running from Muslims more than color.
Sieg Heil!
"It is also characterised by a new fierceness with which people express the aspects of their identity — heritage, ethnicity, faith — that make them different from their neighbours."
Isn't that the point of all the multiculturalism BS - to celebrate our differences?
Exactly. Cultural incompatibility is beyond repair.
Threatening to undo? That's like threatening to undo a hole in your roof.
I'd vote for you.
I would use another tactic. Rather than force people to stay, they should force some of the minorities to MOVE to the new places to keep the 'balance' they find so important.
What are the minorities afraid of? Afraid crimes are goign to increase? Gee- I thought it was the crackers that kept them down? Now that white folks are moving out, they'er complaining? Danged if you do, danged if you don'ty I guess. http://sacredscoop.com
...middle-class families — including those of Asian background in some parts of England — leave areas of high ethnic minority populations.
Nonsense. I'll tell you exactly what is happening - law-abiding and successful people wish to live with one another regardless of race, and wish to avoid the non-law-abiding and proudly unsuccessful at any cost no matter what their race. This is true particularly in places where the state actually protects the non-law-abiding and maintains an atmosphere where to be successful is to be guilty of some vague social crime and worse, is grounds for having the protection of the state withheld. Race, culture, sexual preference, and all the other ridiculous icons of the multicultis are entirely irrelevant.
Phillips is worried that there won't be enough middle-class whites in the cities to support the ethnics there.....
Good idea.
Abdul, you can choose this delightful two-bedroom yurt in Scorpionview, or the split-level cave in Squalorville. We think you'd be more comfortable there. The schools are top-notch, even though they're all blown up. Roads are narrow enough for IED practice, And there's a mosque on every corner, complete with raving imam, explosives in the basement, and money-laundering facilities for those midnight arms purchases.
Just remember that everything that the lefties consider bad is "Whitey's Fault"./sarc
Yeah - what YOU said.
Soon, individuals will be charged for not dating inter-racially. Hell- even not dating the same gender will be called "discrimination" and a civil rights violation.
Thats the money quote. Diversity almost always ensures seperation.
Excellent point.
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