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The Truth About White Flight. Conventional history of the exodus out of cities ignores numerous complex and interrelated causes.
City Journal ^ | Autumn 2020 | William Voegeli

Posted on 12/24/2020 5:50:46 AM PST by karpov

...

How differently would white flight have unfolded absent the crime wave that began in the 1960s? According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the national homicide rate doubled between 1960 and 1980, from 5.1 murders per 100,000 Americans to 10.2, its highest level. Chicago, always a rough city, already had a homicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000 residents in 1960, but it exploded to 28.7 in 1980 and 30.7 in 1990.

The riots of the 1960s saw lawlessness engulf entire neighborhoods. Chicago’s most serious disturbance was in April 1968, after Martin Luther King’s murder. Some of the looting and National Guard deployments were near South Shore, Rotella recounts, but most of the mayhem was on the West Side. By the riots’ conclusion, nine people were dead, more than 300 injured, more than 2,000 arrested, and 260 stores and businesses destroyed. In its aftermath, white flight from Chicago accelerated. The city, which had been 85.9 percent white in 1950 and 76.4 percent in 1960, saw that proportion fall to 65.6 percent in 1970 and 49.6 percent in 1980. (The Census Bureau didn’t begin to identify “non-Hispanic whites” as a separate category until 1980, when that group accounted for 43.2 percent of Chicago’s population.) In 1988, an official in the city’s planning department calculated that nearly 500,000 people, mostly whites, departed the city in the first half of the 1970s.

We know that the sharp drop in crime that began in the early 1990s coincided with gentrification, evidence that many whites prefer high- to low-density living—if cities are safe. Some of the gentrifiers are the children or grandchildren of people who, with varying degrees of reluctance, moved out of neighborhoods like South Shore.

(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: chicago; michelleobama; whiteflight
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To: markearl

“And this statistics says,
that, if suddenly the black population, regardless of age and sex,
tomorrow will leave the country, which it massively hates, then as a result:
- the US population will decrease by 11.3%;
- the number of employees will be reduced by 1.4%;”

It’s not true or fair to blacks to say they all “massively hate” the country, and your numbers regarding the labor force are way off:

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2018/home.htm
“By race, Whites made up the majority of the labor force (78 percent). Blacks and Asians constituted an additional 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively. American Indians and Alaska Natives made up 1 percent of the labor force, while Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders accounted for less than 1 percent. People of Two or More Races made up 2 percent of the labor force (as computed from table 1).”


41 posted on 12/24/2020 7:13:48 AM PST by karpov
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To: ladyjane

maybe the COVID can’t survive in the ocean!! It’s a shame, though. Rules for us but not them.


42 posted on 12/24/2020 7:15:46 AM PST by ronniesgal ( no fool like an old fool!)
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To: Slyfox

I was in Flint in the summer of 67 when the Detroit riots erupted. Our frat house was a big old three story plus basement in a not great part of town. Most of my frat bros were guys from Ohio and Indiana, many from rural areas.

Those guys all dashed home and came back a day later with an arsenal of guns the likes of which I haven’t seen before or since. Thankfully they didn’t need to be used.


43 posted on 12/24/2020 7:19:20 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: Da Coyote; vpintheak

“Crime. Period. It’s all about the crime. If you can afford to leave a crime-ridden crap-hole; you leave.”

Yeah, and who commits disproportionately most crimes? And why. It’s a bit like saying people don’t avoid lions because they’re lions, but because they eat you, as though one has nothing to do with the other.

No it isn’t skin color that people are fleeing from - it’s what correlates with crime that people are leaving. And it involves more than skin color, but other features as well that help identify one dark skinned group from another.

As far as I know no whites are fleeing from neighborhoods with Indians from Asia. Even though they are as dark skinned as blacks, they can be easily identified as belonging to a different genetic group.


44 posted on 12/24/2020 7:34:10 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you care! Guilting you is how they control you. )
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To: nascarnation
I was in the 9th grade that year and we talked about it in class, "Are they coming to Flint, and what do we do if they come here?"

It was the first time I ever felt a palpable fear shared by others.

45 posted on 12/24/2020 7:36:34 AM PST by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkeys )
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To: karpov

It’s funny how white flight was more Immediate and profound in the industrial north than in the south

Where despite segregation whites and blacks had lived in proximity or intermingled forever basically

When my grandmothers home on Lexington ave in Jackson. Mississippi first started going black in 1981 or so she and most whites stayed

The first blacks who came in were decent enough

It was only say by ten years later it had become untenable

Some whites never leave....they can’t

What happens is Ben Carson moves I; first and it’s great

But in time it’s overrun by White Gorl Bleed A Lot and Ben is long gone to fancier digs

My grandmother lasted from 80-93 when my mom forced her to move to fairly white Rankin county

Freepers in the homogenous north simply are just ignorant exsept in rust belt cities

Now in some black rural counties in the Deep South it’s always been more heavily African black

Some countries are 70-80% black

Whites self segregate strongly


46 posted on 12/24/2020 7:40:22 AM PST by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you run the tra)
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To: karpov

Even the areas that “gentrify” can be a problem. I lived in Charlestown for 11 years. This is a very old historically white working class neighborhood in Boston. Busing started the problems. But yeah, the town was also full of plenty of scumbag whites. Gangs, crime, etc. It’s a weird neighborhood. You have white gentrification in some parts, but also the largest public housing project in New England. We bought a single family house a couple blocks from the monument in 2002. $300K, then 10 years renovating it for another $150k.

We sold it in 2013 for $680k. Was on the market for only 3 days. We beat feet for the south shore suburbs for a large house, large yard, and great schools. We left because of the school situation in Boston, and 10 years of petty crime, open drug use in the streets, and the behavior of the Charlestown High students (90% black). Our gate was kicked in 5 times, front windows broken, car stolen twice, etc.

We had a 100 pound Greater Swiss Mountain dog that the black kids hated and were scared of. They taunted her frequently and it made our house a target. Of course they never risked breaking in. Finally enough was enough.

Our house on the south shore has done nothing but increase in value. Paid $700k for it, 2.5 acres, 4,000 sq ft. Now worth $1.1 mill. My kid’s school is 98% white. They’re thriving. So I’m either a racists, or someone that really cares about my family’s well-being. Pretty sure what Moochelle and their ilk would call me...


47 posted on 12/24/2020 7:45:21 AM PST by strider44
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To: BobL
...Sometimes we must face our inner-racism. The number of Asians in the country is roughly half of the number of blacks. And if whites don’t want to be around blacks, why would they be ok with Asians? ...

We lived in the SF Bay area for 40 years. Our son had mostly asian friends. This was great. Higher academic standards, less crime, improved neighborhoods.

Yes, there were cultural differences. They had more people per house than the anglos, but we saw how they took care of the older family members, and they came to like more space. It was the low crime that was convincing.

48 posted on 12/24/2020 7:56:49 AM PST by CurlyDave
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To: ronniesgal

No cameras allowed when she stood up to get in or out.

Thank God.


49 posted on 12/24/2020 8:05:30 AM PST by gloryblaze
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To: CurlyDave
I prefer that we have a WESTERN culture and our immigration policies give preference to Europeans/European-descended Latin Americans (as they were before 1965), but I am just one man with an opinion and that is not going to happen. I may retire to Portugal as they will never allow their country to be overrun with Chinese, Indians, or Africans and will remain western until at least I die.

That being said, I have lived in neighborhoods that were mostly Vietnamese, Middle Eastern (Lebanese, Yemeni), and mestizo/Euro South American (mostly Colombian some others) and never wanted to run away due to crime, loud music, disrespectful children, or gang warfare. When I’ve seen towns taken over by Indian or Korean immigrants in my part of the world, I see different business types/restaurants and some cultural idiosyncrasies, but I don’t see the level of violence and dysfunctional behavior that I see with a certain other “minority” group of people who have been here since before my ancestors arrived (I am white, but not Anglo or Caucasian - Caucasians meaning Armenian or Georgian to me 😂

50 posted on 12/24/2020 8:27:33 AM PST by Clemenza
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To: gloryblaze

Badonkadonk’d to death.


51 posted on 12/24/2020 8:31:07 AM PST by ronniesgal ( no fool like an old fool!)
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To: karpov
The problem with the parent article is that they frame everything from the presupposition of racist motives. As cities devolved (and continue to devolve) their neighborhood begins to look like Fallujah. People from all cultures in the neighborhood who can afford to leave will. That is because people of all cultures want to be safe in their own home.

The problem is that people in different cultures have different values. Some cultures have values (a strong work ethic, a desire to be safe and free) and have made choices that give them skills that employer compensates well. These have the most options when a neighborhood becomes unsafe.

I would note that there are good examples from the black community that have made these choices. Thomas Sowell and Ben Carson come to mind.

Ben Shapiro and others have pointed out that there are key skills that when mastered give you a high probability of moving to a higher income class. These include avoiding criminal activity, finishing school, developing a marketable skill, and marrying before you have children. Thoughtful people of all cultures have succeeded in doing this and reaping the benefits.

Finally, I would note that it is much easier to buy into the lie created by the social justice community that the successful people persecuted you and prevented your success. This thinking has been criticized from long ago in the parable of the fox who could not reach the grapes and gave up, convincing himself (with no data) that the grapes were sour.

52 posted on 12/24/2020 8:36:51 AM PST by RetiredScientist
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To: Shadow44

“One of the best books on the subject is “The Slaughter of Cities”. The use of subsidized loans was a huge factor.”

Can’t find it on Amazon, do you know the author?


53 posted on 12/24/2020 8:52:57 AM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest)
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To: PLMerite
You won't find it on Amazon because they banned it two years ago.

You can order it directly from the publisher's website here.

https://www.fidelitypress.org/book-products/the-slaughter-of-cities

54 posted on 12/24/2020 8:58:08 AM PST by Shadow44
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To: BobL

LOL, everyone knows that black kids can’t learn unless they are sitting next to a white kid. How patronizing is that?

I remember well when LA “turned” - I’m from Ventura county and it was relatively rural where we were, nearby Simi Valley absolutely exploded at that time with whites fleeing busing in LA.

What did it ever accomplish except a massive waste of money - and white flight out of the cities. Busing segregated cities faster and better than any KKK ever could.

BTW: I enjoy reading your posts and agree with your positions, which at times aren’t popular on this forum.

Best to you!


55 posted on 12/24/2020 9:01:33 AM PST by Bon of Babble (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby!)
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To: Shadow44
...the ‘68 riot didn’t scare his grandparents off because they thought the tanks put the fear of God in people. It was the next riot several years later that they packed up and left.

Once a city is marked as non-redemptive by the marketplace, there's no need to call in the National Guard to clear out the problem. It instead flips to "Escape from New York" where you encourage the mutants to stay in the city while the normal citizenry departs.

A recent news item describes New York State closing three prisons upstate and why not? The five boroughs of New York City are in effect a prison / psych ward and have been for decades.

56 posted on 12/24/2020 9:03:25 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: PLMerite

Also a great book in that category (from 2015):

“Shame of the Cities” by John Perazzo.

Explains in detail how once-great cities when to h***:

Still available on Amazon.

I doubt anything by E. Michael Jones is available on Amazon.


57 posted on 12/24/2020 9:06:50 AM PST by Bon of Babble (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby!)
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To: Bon of Babble

Jones got banned two years ago. You can still order his books directly from his website.


58 posted on 12/24/2020 9:11:56 AM PST by Shadow44
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To: Clemenza

When my grandmother was still alive after my grandfather died she told us one time during a blizzard, she was walking home and struggling with her groceries in the snow. A Vietnamese man in an ARVN jacket saw her and decided to help her all the way home. He barely spoke any English and actually made tea for her when she got home and refused to take money from her.


59 posted on 12/24/2020 9:19:11 AM PST by Shadow44
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To: Does so
LOL. The Federal courts assertion of specious process rights in cases like Miranda or Gideon was responded to by legislatures by upping both the penalties and scope of criminal law, which badly affected everyone by turning many into overnight felons and enormously increasing the power of a district attorney to plea bargain.

So we now have a system where almost no criminal cases go to trial at all, DAs can extort pleas at will, and the primary job of court-appointed counsel is to get his client to plead guilty.

But all the process T's are crossed and I's dotted.

60 posted on 12/24/2020 11:03:53 AM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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