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."
Social engineers like this person always look on people the way zookeepers look at their animals.
But the idjits think they can make water flow uphill.
Anybody know where Trev lives? It would be nice to know if he puts his family where his mouth is.
Bill you are exactly right & I REALLY wish scum like Sharpton and Jackson would quit with the garbage 'racist' remarks when describing why in situations liek this.
"Maybe the authorities should FORCE people to live in integrated areas. The right of free association interferes with racial integration, so that right has to go. I know it sounds draconian, but sometimes people have to forced to do the right thing for themselves and for Der Fuhrer ... er, I mean, for the Fatherland ... darn! I mean the Collective."
Those 'ethnically concentrated' communities must have something that attracts...low lifes
Those 'ethnically concentrated' communities must have something that attracts...low lifes
I don't get it...when Muslims want to live with Muslims...that makes sense. When Indians wish to live in communities with Indians...Well, that's ok...but when White want to live with whites, that's RACISM....ARGH.
Trevor! Here's an idea chap. Forced busing. It worked so well here in the Colonies...it's sure to be a bang up success in the UK.
Hey you are on a roll.
SOCIAL UTOPIANS FRUSTRATED BY EXERCISE OF FREE WILL
It never cease to amaze me, about the "white man" syndrome been the root cause for every/any society Malay.
Yet, all those holier that thou so called "white oppressed minorities" peg their social downfall on the "white flight".
It looks like we "whiteys" aren't such a turds afterall...the minorities are needing us to prop up their life style!
No, they should use forced busing of students first. That will cause a few cities to burn down. Just like happened here 38 years ago.
I agree. And it is anti freedom of association. Also they never say anything Negative about how other race groups seem to flock together. It is considered cute and cultural. Just think China Town, Little Italy, New Orleans, Muslim in Detroit, Asian communities etc.
Excellent logic.
They should be forced to live next door to a crack house for a year as part of their Doctorate.
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