I’m a big believer in the existence of ‘white flight’.
For 17 years, I have worked in Land Development, in a community with anemic 1.5% annual growth. So where are all the new homebuyers coming from? The answer is simple - anyone who can get out of the city will do just that...and for whatever reason, the majority of those that can leave are white.
Did the businesses leave first? In our line of work, the model is businesses follow ‘rooftops’...meaning businesses go wherever the newer houses go, not the other way around.
I’m fascinated with ‘white flight’ trends...keeping in mind that I don’t blame white people like myself for ‘fleeing’ (which is exactly what I have done). It just amazes me how efficiently urban decay destroys places...and the differences between adjacent cities can be, well, black and white.
As an example, I am originally from the Birmingham area - the city of Birmingham is now only 21% white, while the city of Hoover, which is immediately adjacent to it (i.e. they share a border) is 73% white. Something has caused this shift in population, and its interesting to try and find out why. BTW, the county that includes Birmingham has declared bankruptcy...hello next Detroit.
Anyway, I think ‘white flight’ is real. I just don’t blame whites for fleeing. Its exactly what I have done. I live near Topeka, KS, the home of the famous ‘Brown vs Board of Education’ desegregation case - and my kids go to a school that is around 98% white. So much for desegregation.
Too bad.
Birmingham was once a very beautiful city. One of the prettiest I ever saw.
Instead of “white flight”, think “taxpayer flight” - that is what kills these places (in part because they have to support so many “gibsmedats”. It is killing CA, and in my area it is killing NJ and NY. The taxpayers may be individuals or corporations; in the end, when too few people are supporting so many, a race starts to get out.