You say “White flight is a fact.” And then in the same post you say “... it should not be called ‘white flight,’ and won’t use the phrase any more.”
That’s exactly what Political Correctness is, the abandoning of a factual term of speech because you’ve, supposedly, upset someone else. Of course, because you’re terminology is, indeed, factual, the persons upset always have an ulterior motive for getting you to abandon the factual term.
Take “illegal aliens.” It’s a factual statement but rubs liberals (and illegals) the wrong way, so we’re all supposed to say “undocumented workers” now, as in “well, they work; they just haven’t got their documents...yet.” Both are factual, but one emphasizes illegality; the other emphasizes work.
Granted, the person using the terms “white flight” or “illegal alien” might have an agenda, but more likely they are stating a fact as fact, and others with an agenda find that fact inconvenient, or outright damaging to their cause and so bring the “political correctness” cudgel to bear.
I urge you to reconsider your decision. If the flight is white, it is indeed “white flight.” Why sugarcoat it? More important, why give the PC police another victory?
I think "ethnic cleansing" would be a more appropriate way of putting it.
I really don’t care whether or not someone is upset by the comment. I consider “white flight” in itself to be a “politically correct” term that liberals WANT to use. They are the ones who want to inject race into everything. They use the term the same way they use the terms “white guilt” and “white privilege.” In other words, “you white people need to feel guilty about leaving the cities for the priveleged suburbs only because you see black people in your neighborhood. So give us money to feel better about your racist selves.”
The phenomenon liberals label as “white flight” is better characterized as the flight of affluent, productive achievers from urban areas due to concerns of personal safety and family safety (crime) as well as the desire to have their children succeed (schools). To call it “white flight” implies that whites are racist and are leaving just because they don’t want to be around “colored people.”
The fact remains that most of the people who fled to the suburbs are and were white. The fact remains that most of the people who caused the problems with crime and deteriorating schools are black. But there are successful black people who leave the cities for the suburbs for exactly the same reasons that white people do. Those reasons are only ancillarily racial.