There goes the Neighborhood

Last night I attended a book conference that was sponsored by Dekalb county libraries and Atlanta-Journal constitution. Professor William Julius Wilson , a well Known Harvard Sociologist was talking about his book “There goes the Neighborhood”. The book was a groundbreaking research that looked into racial, ethnic and class tension in four Chicago neighborhoods.

William's research showed a clear "White Flight" once a black family or Hispanic neighbors moved to their sub-division. Majority of the whites moved out or stayed to fight back once these new neighbors bought homes around them. Professor William research shows how America is far from fully integrated .The numbers are really disappointing if you ever thought America is fully integrated. The white homeowners are paranoid of their house value going down. They are afraid of their schools becoming crowded and their neighborhoods becoming a drug hub.

The neighborhoods that didn’t move out decided to fight back by making extreme rules for the new black and Hispanic homeowners. The only reason the white homeowners stayed back to fight was because their jobs required them to live within the city limit since they were city government employees. They had no choice of moving to a new place.They made strict rules to "protect" the neighborhood. This is shameful to the American society.I am sure America have learnt long time the objective lesson on the contradictory nature of it's denying civil and human rights to Americans solely on their skin color. It is time for Americans to rethink it's economic/class segregation of it's society.